KANSAS AFFAIRS. 



THE REPORT 



()FT H E 



INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE; 



PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



WASHINGTON, JULY 1st and 2d, 1856. 



F 

6^5 — — — 

CINCINNATI: 
Published by Geo. H. Biaiichai'd, tt» West. Fourth Street 

185C. 



KANSAS AFFAIBS. 



THE REPORT 

OF THE 

CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE. 



A journal of proceedings, inc'uding sundry 
communications made to and by the committee, 
was kept, a copy of which is herewith submitted. 
The testimony also is herewith submitted; a copy 
of it has been made and arranged, not according to 
the order in which it was taken but so as to pre- 
sent, as clearly as possible, a consecutive history 
of events in the Territory, from its organization to 
the 19th day of March, A. D. 1856. 

Your committee deem it their duty to state, as 
briefly as possible, the principal facts proven be- 
fore them . When the act to organize the Tertitory 
of Kansas was passed, on — day of May, 185 ; , 
the greater portion of its eastern border was in- 
cluded in Indian reservations not open for settle- 
ment, and there were but few white settlers in any 
portion of the Territory. Its Indian population was 
rapidly decreasing, while many emigrants from 
different parts of our country were anxiously wait- 
ing the extinction of the Indian title, and the es- 
tablishment of a Territorial government, to seek 
new homes in its fertile prairies. It cannot be 
doubted that if its condition as a free Territory had 
been left undisturbed by Congress, its settlement 
would have been rapid, peaceful and prosperous. 
Its climate,soil, and its easy access to the older set- 
tlements would have made it the favored course 
for the tide of emigration constantly flowing to the 
West, and, by this time, it would have been ad- 
mitted into the Union as a Free State, without the 
least sectional excitement. If so organized, none 
but the kindest feeling could have existed between 
it and the adjoining State. Their mutual interests 
and intercourse, instead of, as now, endangering 
the harmony of the Union, would have strengthen- 
ed the ties of national brotherhood. Thetestimo- 
ny clearly shows that before the proposition to re- 
peal the Missouri Compromise was introduced in- 
to Congress the people of Western Missouri ap- 
peared indifferent to the prohibition of slavery in 
the Territory, and neither asked nor desired its re- 
peal. 

Wheu, however, the prohibi.ion was removed 
by the action of Congress, the aspect of affairs en- 
tirely changed. The whole country was agitated 
by the re-opening of a controversy which conser- 
vative men in different sect ons hoped had been 
settled in every State and Territory by some law 
beyond the danger of repeal. The excitement 
which has always accompanied the discussion of 
the slavery question was greatly increased by the 
hope on the one hand of extending slavery into a 
region from which it had been excluded by law; 
and on the other by a sense of wrong done by 
what was regarded as a dishonor of a national 
compact. This excitement was naturally trans- 



ferred into the border counties of Missouri and the 
Territory as settlers favoring free or slave insti- 
tutions moved into it. A new difficulty soon oc- 
curred. Different constructions were put upon 
the organic law. It was contended by the one 
party that the right to hold slaves in the Territory 
existed, and that neither the people nor the Terri-. 
torial Legislature could prohibit slavery — that that 
power was alone possessed by the people when 
they were authorized to form a State government. 
Itws contended that the removal of the restric- 
tion virtually established slavery into the Territo- 
ry. This claim was urged by many prominent 
men in Western Missouri, who actively engaged 
in the affairs of the Territory. Every movement 
ot whatever character which tended to establish 
free institutions was regarded as an interference 
with their rights. 

Within a few days after the organic law passed, 
and as soon as its passage could be known on the 
border, leading citizens of Missouri crossed into 
the Territory, held squatter meetings, and then re- 
turned to their homes. Among their resolutions 
are the following: — 

That we will afford protection to no abolitionist 
as a settler of this Territory. 

That we recognize the institution of slavery as 
already existing in this Territory, and advise 
slaveholders to introduce their property as early 
as possible. 

Similar resolutions were passed in various parts 
of the Teiritory, and by meetings in several coun- 
ties of Missouri. Thus the first effect of the re- 
striction against slavery was to substitute the re- 
solves of squatter meetings, composed almost ex- 
clusively of citizens of a aingle State, for the de- 
liberate action of Congress, acquiesced in for thir- 
ty-five years- 

This unlawful interference has been continued 
in every important event in the history of the Ter- 
ritory; every election has been controlled, not by 
the actual settlers, but by citizens of Missouri,and 
as a consequence every officer in the Territory, 
from constables to legislators, except those ap- 
pointed by the President, owe their position to non- 
resident voters. None have been elected by the 
settlers, and your committee have been unable to 
find that any political power whatever, however 
unimportant, has be jii exercised by the people of 
the Territory. 

In October, A. D. 1854, Governor A. H. Reeder 
and the other officers appointed by the President ar- 
rived in the Territory. Settlers from all parts of 
the country were moving in great numbers, mak- 
ing their claims and building their cabins. About 
the same time, and before any election was or could 



78825 



be held in the Territory, a secret political society 
was formed, in the State of Missouri. It was 
known by different names, sue 1 as -'Social Band," 
"Friends Society," "Blue Lodge," "The Sons of 
the South." Its members were bound together by 
secret oaths, and they had passwords, signs and 
grips by which they were known to each other. — 
Penalties were imposed for violating the rules and 
secrets of the Order. Written minutes were kept 
of the proceedings of the lodges, and the different 
lodges were connected together by an effective or- 
ganization. It embraced great numbers of the cit- 
izens of Missouri, and was extended into other 
slave States, and into the Territory. Its avowed 
purpose was not only to extend slavery into Kan- 
sas, but als'' into other territory of the United 
States, and to form a union of all the friends of 
that institution. Its plan of operating was to or- 
ganize and send men to vote at the elections in the 
Territory, to collect money to pay their expenses, 
and if necessary to protect them in voting. It also 
proposed to induce the pro-slavery men to emi- 
grate into the Territory, to aid and sustain them 
while there, and to elect none to office but those 
friendly to their views. This dangerous society 
was controlled by men who avowed their purpose 
to extend slavery into the Territory at all Hazards, 
and was altogether the most effective instrument 
in organizing the subsequent armed invasions and 
forays. In its lodges in Missouri the affairs of 
Kansas were discussed, the force necessary to 
control the election was divided into bands, and 
leaders selected, means were collected, and signs 
and badges were agreed upon. "While the great 
body of the actual settlers of the Territory were 
relying upon the rights secured to them by the 
organic law, and had formed no organization or 
combination whatever, even of a party character, 
this conspiracy against their rights was gathering 
strength in a neighboring State, and would have 
been sufficient at their first election to have over- 
powered them, if they had been united to a man. 
Tour committee had gr :at difficulty in eliciting the 
proof of the details in regard to this secret society. 
One witness, member ot the Legislative Council, 
refused to answer questions in reference to it. 
Another declined to answer fully, because to do so 
would result to his injury. Others could or 
would only answer as to the general purposes of 
the society, but sufficient is disclosed in the testi- 
mony to show the influence it had in cont oiling 
the elections of the Territory. 

The first election was t or a delegate to Congress. 
It was appointed for the 29th o November, 1854. 
The Governor divided the Territory into seventeen 
election districts, appointed Judges, and prescribed 
proper rules for the election. In the First, Third, 
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Sev- 
enth districts, there appears to have been but little 
if any fraudulent voting. 

The election in the Second district was held at 
the village of Douglas, nearly fifty miles from the 
Missouri line. On the day before the election large 
companies of men came into the district in wagons 
and on horseback, and declared that they were 
from the State of Missouri, and were going to 
Douglas to vote. On the morning of the election 
they gathered around the house where the election 
was to be held. Two of the Judges appointed by 
the Governor did not appear, and other Judges 
were elected by the crowd. All then voted, in 
order to make a pretence of ri?b:. tc vote, soai.e 
persons of the company kept a pretended register 
of squatter claims, on which any man could enter 
his name and then assert he had a claim to the Ter- 
ritory. A citizen of the district who was himself 
a candidate to Congress, was told by one of the 
strangers, that he would be abused and probably 
killed if he challenged a vote. He was seized 



by the collar, called a d — d abolitionist, and was 
compelled to seek protection in the room with the 
Judges. About the tivr.e the polls were closed, 
these strangers mounted their horses and got into 
their wagons and cried out, "All aboard for West- 
port and Kansas City." A number were recogni- 
zed as residents of Missouri, and among them was 
Samuel H. Woodson, a leading lawyer of Inde- 
pendnce. Of those whose names were on the poll 
books, 35 were resident settlers and 226 were non- 
residents. 

The election in the Fourth District was held at 
Dr. Chapman's, over 40 miles from the Missouri 
State line. It was a thinly settled region, contain- 
ing but 47 voters in February, 1855, when the cen- 
sus was taken. On the day before the election, 
from 100 to 150 citizens of Cass and Jackson coun- 
ties, Mo., came into this district, declaring their 
purpose to vote, and that they were bound to make 
Kansas a slave State, if they did it at the point of 
ihe sword. Persons of the party on the way 
drove each a stake in the ground and called it a 
claim — and in one case several names were put on 
one stake. The party of strangers camped all 
night near where the election was to be held, and 
in the morning were at the election polls and vo- 
ted. One of their party got drunk, and to get rid 
of Dr. Chapman, a judge of the election, they sent 
for hin to come and see a sick man, and in his ab- 
sence, filled his place with another Judge, who was 
not sworn. They did not deny or conceal that they 
were residents of Missouri, and many of them were 
recognized as such by others. They declared that 
they were bound to make Kansas a slave State. — 
They insisted upon theii right to vote in the Terri- 
tory if they were in it one hour. After the election 
they again returned to their homes in Missouri, 
camping over night on the way. 

We find upon the poll books 161 names; of these 
not over 30 resides in the Territory, 131 were non- 
residents. 

But few settlers attended the election in the Fifth 
District, the District being large, and the settlement 
scattering. Eighty-two votes were cast; of these 
between 20 and 30 were settlers, and the resi- 
due were citizens of Missouri. They passed into 
the Territory by the way of the Santa Fe road, 
and by the residence of Dr. Westfal!, who then 
lived on the western line of Missouri. Some 
little excitement arose at the ^olls as to the legali- 
ty of their voting; but they did vote for General 
Whitfield, and said they intended to make Kansas 
a slave State, and that they had claims in the Ter- 
ritory. Judge Teazle, Judge of the Court in Jack- 
son county, Missouri, was present, but did not vote. 
He said he did not intend to vote, but came 
to see that others voted. After the election the 
Missourians returned the way they came. 

The election in the Sixth District was held at 
Fort Scott, in the south-east part of the Territory, 
and near the Missouri line. A party of about one 
hundred men from Cass, and the counties in Mis- 
souri south of it, went into the Territory, traveling 
about 45 miles, most of them with their wagons 
and tents, and camping out. They appeared at the 
place of election. Some attempts were made to 
swear them, but two of the judges were prevailed 
upon not to do so, and none were sworn, and as 
many chose voted. There were but a few resident 
voters at the polls. The settlement was sparse — 
about 25 actual settlers voted out of 105 votes cast, 
leaving 80 illegal votes. After the voting 
was over the Missourians went to their wagons and 
commenced leaving for home. 

The most shameless fraud practised upon the 
rights of the settlers at this election was in the 
Seventeenth district. It is a remote settlement, 
about 75 miles from the Missouri line, and con- 
tained in February, A. D. 185^, three months af- 









terward, when the census was taken, but 5.3 voters, 
and yet the poll books show that 64-O^votes were 
cast. The election was held at the house of Frey 
McGee, at a place called " 110." But few of the 
actual se tiers were present at the polls. A 
witness who formerly resided in Jackson county, 
Mo., and was well acquainted with the citizens of 
that county j 2 says that he saw a great many 
wagons and tents at the place of election, and 
many individuals he knew from Jackson county. 
He was in their tents and conversed with some of 
them, and they told him they had come with the 
intention of voting. He went to the polls, intend- 
ing to vote for Flennekin, and his ticket being of 
a different color from the rest, his vote was chal- 
lenged by Frey McGee, who had been appointed 
one of the judges but did not serve. Lemuel 
Ralston, a citizen of Missouri, was acting in his 
place. The witness then challenged the vote of a 
young man by the name of Nolan, whom he knew 
to reside in Jackson county. Finally the thing 
was hushed up, as the witness had a good many 
friends there from that county, and it mi*ht lead to 
a fight if he challenged any more votes. Both vo- 
ted and he then went down to their camp. He 
there saw many of his old acquaintances whom he 
knew had voted at the election in Augustprevious 
m Missouri, and who still resided in that State. By 
a careful comparison of the poll lists with the cen- 
sus rolls, we find but 12 names on the poll books 
who were voters when the census was taken three 
months afterwards, and we are satisfied that not 
more than 20 legal votes could have been polled at 
that election. The only residents who are known 
to have voted are named by the witness, and are 1 3 
in number — thus leaving 584 illegal votes cast in 
a remote district, where the settlers within many 
miles were acquainted with each other. 

The total number of white inhabitants in Elev- 
enth district, in the month of February, A.D. 1855, 
including men, women and children, was 36, of 
whom 2 1 were voters — yet the poll lists in this dis- 
trict show that 245 votes were cast at this election. 
For reasons stated hereafter, in regard to the elec- 
tion on the 30th of March, your committee were 
unable to procure the attendance of witnesses from 
this district. From the records it clearly appears 
that the votes cast could not have been by lawful 
resident voters. The best test in the abse ice of 
direct proof bv which to ascertain the number of 
legal votes cast is by a comparison of the census 
roll with the poll book — by which it appears that 
but 7 resident settlers voted, and 23 o votes were il- 
legally and fraudulently given. 

The election in the Fourteenth district was held 
at the house of Benjamin Harding, a few miles 
from the town of St. Joseph, Missouri. Before 
the polls were opened, a large number of citizens 
of Buchanan county, Missouri, and among them 
many of the leading citizens of St. Joseph, were at 
the place of voting, and made a majority of the 
company present. At the time appointed by the 
Governor for opening the polls, two of the Judges 
were not there, and it became the duty of the legal 
voters present to select other Judges. The Judge 
who -was present suggested the name of Mr. 
Waterson as one of the Judges — but the crowd 
voted down the proposition. Some discussion then 
arose to the right of non-residents to vote for 
Judges, during which Mr. Bryant was nominated, 
and elected by the crowd. Some one nominated 
Col. John Scott as the other Judge, who was then 
and is now, a resident of St. Joseph. At that time 
he was the City Attorney of that place, and so con- 
tinued until this spring, but he claimed that the 
night before he had come to the house of Mr. 
Bryant, and had engaged boarding for a mon+h, 
and considered himself a resident of Kansas on 
that ground. The Judges appointed by the 



Governor refused to put the nomination of Col. 
Scott to vote, because he was m t a resident. After 
some discussion, Judge Leonard, a citizen of Mis- 
souri stepped forward, and put the vote himself ; 
and Mr. Scott was declared by him as elected by 
the crowd, and served as a judge of election that 
day. After the election was over, he returned to 
St. Joseph, and never since has resided in the 
Territory. It is manifest that this election of a 
non-resident lawyer as a judge was imposed upon 
the settlers by the citizens of the State. "When the 
Board of Judj.es was thus completed, the voting 
proceeded, but the effect of the rule adopted by the 
Judges allowed many, if not a majority of the non- 
residents to vote. They claimed that their presence 
on the ground, especially when they had a claim 
in the Territory, gave them a right to vote ; under 
that construction of the law, they readily, when 
required, swore they were "residents," and 
then voted. By this evasion, as near as your 
committee can ascertain from the testimony, as 
many as fifty illegal votes were cast in this district 
out of one hundred and fifty-three, the whole num- 
ber polled. 

The election in the Fi teenth district was held at 
/ensexan's, on Stranger creek, a tew muesrrom 
Weston, .Missouri. On the day of the election a 
large number of citizens of Platte county, but 
chiefly from Weston and Platte City, came in 
small parties, in wagon3 and on horseback to the 
polls. Among them were several leading citizens 
of that town,"and the names of many of them are 
given by the witnesses. They generally in 
sisted upon their right to vote, on the ground that 
every man having a claim in the Territory ceuld 
vote, no matter where he lived 15. All voted 
who chose. No man was challenged or sworn. 
Some of the residents did not vote. The purpose 
of the strangers in voting was declared to be to 
make Kansas a slave State 16. We find by the 
poll books that 306 votes were cast — of them we 
find but 57 are on the census rolls as legal voters 
in February following. Your Committee is satified 
from the testimony that not over 100 of those who 
voted had any right so to do, leaving; at least 206 
illegal votes cast. 

The election in the Sixteenth District was held at 
Leavenworth. It was then a small village of three 
or four houses, located on the Delaware reserva- 
tion. 

There were but comparatively few settlers then 
in the district, but the number rapidly increased 
afterwar.i. On the day before and on the clay of 
the election, a great manv citizens, of Platte, Clay 
and Pay counties, crossed the river — most of them 
camping in tents and wagons about the town, "like 
a camp meeting." . 

Thev were in companies or messes of ten to fif- 
teen iii each, and numbered in all several hundred. 
They brought their own provisions and cooked 
it themselves, and were generally armed. Many 
of them wore known by the witnesses, and their 
names given, and their names are found upon their 
poll books. Among them were several persons of 
influence where they resided in Missouri, who held 
or had held high official positions in that State. 
They claimed to be residents of the Territory, from 
the fact that they were then present, and insisted on 
the right to vote, and did vote. Their avowed pur- 
pose in doing so was to make Kansas a slave State. 
These strangers crowded around the polls, and it 
was with great difficulty that the settlers could get 
to the rol's. One resident attempted to get to 
the polls in the afternoon, but was crowded and 
pulled back. He then went outside of the crowd 
and hurrahed for General Whitfield, and some of 
those who did not know him said, "That's a good 
pro-slavery man," and lifted him up over their 
heads so that he crawled on their heads and put in 



his vote. A person who saw from the color of his 
ticket that it was not for General Whitfield, cried 
out, "He is a damned abolitionist — let him down," 
and they dropped him. Others were passed 
to the polls in the same way, and others crowded 
up in the best way they could. After this mockery 
ot an election was over, the non-residents returned 
to their homes in Missouri. Of the 312 votes cast, 
not over 150 were by legal voters. 

The following abstract exhibits the whole num- 
ber of votes at this election for each candidate; the 
number of legal and illegal votes cast in each dis- 
trict: and the number of legal voters in each dis- 
trict in February following : 

A3STRACT OF ELECTIONS AND CENSUS NOV. 29, 1854. 

Whitfield 2,268 

Wakefield 249 

Flenniken 305 

Scattering 21 

Total 2,871 

Legal votes 1,114 

Illegal votes 1,729 

Thus your committee find that in this the first 
election ia the Territory, a very large majority of 
the votes were cast by citizens of the State of Mis- 
souri, in violation of the organic law of the Terri- 
tory. Of the legal voters cast, Gen. Whitfield re- 
ceived a plurality. The settlers took but little in- 
terest in the election, not one half of them voting. 
This may be accounted for from the fact that the 
settlements were scattered over a great extent — 
that the term of the delegate to be elected was 
short — and that the question of free and slave in- 
stitutions was not generally regarded by them as 
distinctly at issue. Under these circumstances, a 
systematic invasion from an adjoining State, by 
which large numbers of illegal votes were cast in 
remote and sparse settlements, for the purpose of 
extending slavery into the Territory, even though 
it did not change the result of the election, was a 
crime of great magnitude. Its immediate effect 
was to further excite the people of the Northern 
States — induce acts of retaliation, and exasperate 
the actual settlers against their neighbors in Mis- 
souri. 

In January and February, A. D., 1855, the Gov- 
ernor caused an enumeration to be taken of the in- 
habitants and qualified voters in the territory, an 
abstract of which is here given : — 

ABSTRACT OF CENSUS RETURNS. 

Males 5,128 

Females 3,373 

Voters 2,905 

Minors 3,469 

Natives of U. S 7,161 

Foreign birth 409 

Negroes 151 

Slaves 242 

Total 8,501 

On the same day the census was completed, the 
Governor issued his proclamation for an election to 
be held on the 30th of March, A. D. 1856, for mem- 
bers of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory. 
It prescribed the boundaries of districts, the places 
of polls, the names of Judges, the appointment of 
members, and recites the qualification of voters. 
If it had been observed, a just and fur election 
would have reflected the will of the people of the 
Territory. Before the election, false and inflam- 
matory rumors were busily circulated among the 
the people of Western Missouri. The number and 
character of the emigration then passing into the 
Territory were grossly exaggerated and misrepre- 
sented. Through the active exertions of many of 
its leading citizens, aided by the secret societies be- 
fore referred to, the passions and prejudices of the 



people of that State were greatly excited. Sever- 
al residents there have testified to the character of 
the reports circulated and accredited by the people. 
These efforts were successful. By an organized 
movement which extended from Andrew county in 
the n .rth to Jasper county in the south, and as far 
eastward as Boone and Cole counties, companies of 
men were arranged in regular parties and sent in- 
to evei y Council district in the Territory, and every 
Representative district but one. The number were 
so distributed as to control the election in each dis- 
trict. They went to vote, and with the avowed 
designs to make Kansas a slave State. They were 
generally armed and equipped, carried with them 
their own provisions and tents, and so marched 
into the Territory. The details of this invasion, 
from the mass of the testimony taken by your 
committee, are so voluminous that we can here 
state but the leading facts elicited. 

FIRST DISTRICT — MARCH 30, 1855 — LAWRENCE. 

The company of persons was marched into this 
District, collected in Ray, Howard, Carroll, Boone, 
La Fayette, Randolph, Saline and Cass counties, 
in the State of Missouri. Their expenses were 
paid — those who could not come contributed pro- 
visions, wagons, Ac. Provisions [were de- 
posited for those who were expected to come to 
Lawrence in the houses of William Lykins, and 
wsre distributed among the Missourians after they 
arrived there. The evening before and the 
morning of the day of election, about 1,000 men 
from the above counties arrived at Lawrence, and 
camped in a ravine a short distance from town, 
near the place of voting. They came in wagons 
— of which there were over one hundred — and on 
horseback, under the command of Col. Samuel 
Young of Boone county, Missouri, and Caiborne 
F. Jackson, of Missouri. They were armed with 
guns, rifles, pistols, and bowie-knives, and had 
tents, music and flags with them. They 
brought with them two pieces of artillery 
loaded with musket balls . On their way to 
Lawrence, some of them met Mr. N. B. Blanton, 
who had been appointed one of the Judges of Elec- 
tion by Gov. Reeder, and after learning from him 
that h? considered it his duty to demand an oath 
from them as to their place of residence, first at- 
tempted to bribe, and then threatened him with 
hanging in order to induce him to dispense with 
that oath. In consequence with these threats, he 
did not appear at the polls the next morning to 
act as Jndge. 

The evening before the election, while in camp, 
the Missourians were called together at the tent 
of Capt. Claiborne F. Jackson, and speeches 
were made to them by Col. Young and others, call- 
ing for volunteers to go to other districts where 
there werenotMis30unans enough to coD*rol the 
e.ecdon, and there were mere at Lawrence -hzn 
were needed there. Many volunteered to go, 
and the morning of the election, several compa- 
nies, from 150 to 200 men each, went off to Te- 
cumseh, Hickory Point, Bloomington, and other 
places. On the morning of the election, the 
Missourians came over to the place of -voting from 
their camp, in bodies of one hundred at a time 
Mr. Blanton not appearing, another Judge 
was appointed in bis place — Col. Young claiming 
that, as the people of the Territory had two Judges, 
it was nothing more than right that the Missouri- 
ans should have the other one, to look after then- 
interest : and Robert A. Cummins was elected 
in Blanton's stead, because he considered that 
every man had a right to vote if he had been in 
the Territory but an hour. The Missourians 
brought their tickets with them but not hav- 
ing enough, they had three hundred more printed 
in Lawrence on the evening before and the day of 
election They had white ribbons in their 



button-holes to distinguish themselves from the 
settlers. ( 

When the voting commenced the question of the 
legality of the vote of a Mr. Page was raised. Be- 
fore it was decided, Col. Samuel Young stepped 
up to the window where the votes were received, 
and said that he would settle the matter. The 
vote of Mr. Page was withdrawn, and Col. Young ! 
offered to vote. He refused to take the oath pre- ' 
scribed by the Governor, but swore he was a resi- ' 
dent of the Territory, upon which his vote was re- j 
ceived. He told Mr. Abbott, one of the : 
Judges, when asked if he intended to make Kansas j 
bis future home, that it was none of his business; ' 
that if he were a resident then he should ask no j 
more. After his vote was received, Colonel 
Young got up in the window-sill and announced, 
to the crowd that he had been permitted to vote, ' 
and they could all come up and vote. He 
told the Judges that there was no use in swearing 
the others, as they would all swear as he had 
done. After the other Judges concluded to 
receive Col. Young's vote, Mr. Abbott resigned as 
Judge of Election, and Mr. Benjamin was elected 
in his place. 

The polls were so much crowded until late in the 
evening, that for a time, when the men had voted, 
they were obliged to get out by being hoisted up on 
the roof of the building where the election was be- 
ing held, and pass over the house. After- 
ward a passageway through the crowd was made, 
by two lines of men being formed, through which 
the voters could get up to the polls. Colonel 
Young asked that the old men be allowed to go up 
first and vote, as they were tired with the traveling 
and wanted to go back to camp. 

The Missourians sometimes came up to the polls 
in procession, two by two, and voted. 

During the day the Missourians drove off the 
ground some ot the citizens— Mr. Stevens, Mr. 
Bond and Mr. Willis. They threatened to 
shoot Mr. Bond, and a crowd rushed after him 
threatening him, and as he ran from them some 
shots were fired at him, as he jumped off the bank 
of the river and made his escape. The citi- 
zens of the town went over in a body, late in the af- 
ternoon, when the polls had become comparatively 
clear, and voted. 

Before the voting had commenced, the Missouri- 
ans said, if the Judges appointed by the Governor 
did not receive their votes, they would choose other 
Judges. Some of them voted several times, 
changing their hats or coats and coming up to the 
window again. They said they intended to 
vote first, and after they had got through then the 
others could vote. Some of them claimed a 
right to vote under the organic act, from the fact 
that their mere presence in the Territory consti- 
tuted them residents, though they were from Wis- 
consin, and had homes in Missouri. Others 
said they had a right to vote because Kansas be- 
longed to Missouri, and people from the East had 
no right to settle in the Territory and Vote there. 
They said they exme to the Territory to elect 
a Legislature to suit themselves, as the people of 
the Territory and persons from the East and North 
wanted to elect a Legislature that would not suit 
them. They said they had a right to make 
Kansas a slave State, because the people of the 
North had sent persons out to make it a free State. 
Some claunei that they had heard that the 
Emigrant Aid Society had sent men gut to be at 
the election and they came to offset their votes; but 
the most of them made no such claim. Colonel 
Young said he wanted the citizens to vote in order 
to give the election some show of fairness. — 
The Missourians said there would be no difficulty, 
if the citizens did not interfere with their voting, 
but they were determined to vote — peaceably, if 



they could, but vote anyhow. TLey said each 
one of them was prepared for eight rounds without 
loading, and would go the ninth round with the 
butcher knife. Some of them said that by 
voting in the Territory they would deprive them- 
selves of the right to vote in Missouri for twelve 
months afterwards. 

The Missourians began to leave the afternoon of 
the day of election, though some did not go home 
until the next morning. 

In many cases when a wagon load had voted, 
the immediately started for home. On their 
way home the3 r said if Governor Reeder did not 
sanction the election they would hang him. 

The citizens of the town of Lawrence, as a gen- 
eral thing, were not armed on the day of election, 
though some had revolvers, but not exposed as 
were the arms of the Missourians. They kept 
a guard about the town the night after the election, 
in consequence of the threats of the Missourians, in 
order to protect it. 

The pro-slavery men of the district attended the 
nominating conventions of the free State men, and 
voted for and secured the nominations of the men 
they considered the most obnoxious to the free 
State party, in order to cause dissension in that 
party. 

Quite a number of settlers came into the district 
before the day of election, and after the census was 
taken. According to the census returns, 
there were then in the district 369 legal voters. Of 
those whose names are on the census returns, 177 
are to be found on the poll books of the 30th of 
March, 1855. Messrs. Ladd, Babcock and Pratt 
testify to 55 names on the poll books of persons 
they "knew to have settled in the district after the 
census was taken and before the election. A num- 
ber of persons came into the Territory in March, 
be ore the election, from the Northern and East- 
ern States, intending to settle, who were in Law- 
rence on the day of election. At that time many of 
them had selected no claims and had no fixed place 
of residence. Such were not entitled to vote.— 
Many of them became dissatisfied with the country. 
Others were' disappointed at iis political condition 
and in the price and demand for labor, and return- 
ed. Whether any such voted at the election is 
not clearly shown; but from the proof it is proba- 
ble that in the latter part of the day, after the great 
body of the Missourians had voted, some did go to 
the polls. The number was not over 50. These 
voted the free State ticket. The whole number of 
names appearing upon the poll lists is 1,034. Af- 
ter full examination, we are satisfied that not over 
232 of these were legal voters, and 802 were non- 
resideut and illegal voters . This district i s strong- 
ly in favor of making Kansas a free State and there 
is no doubt that the free State candidates for the 
Legislature would have been elected by large ma- 
jorities, if none but the actual settlers had voted. 
At the preceding election in;November 1854, where 
none but legal votes were polled, Genera! Whit- 
field, who received the full strength of the pro- 
slavery party got but 46 votes. 

SECOND DISTRICT — BLOOMIKGTON. 

On the morning of election the Judges ap- 
pointed by the Governor appeared and opened the 
polls. Their names were Harrison Burson, Na- 
thaniel Ramsay and Mr. Ellison. The Missou- 
rians began to come in early on the morning, some 
500 or 600 of th m, in wagons and carriages, and 
on horseback, under the lead of Samuel J. Jones, 
then Postmaster of Westpcrt, Missouri, Claiborne 
F. Jackson and Mr. Steeley, of Independence, Mis- 
souri. They were armed with double barrelled 
guns, rifles, bowie knives and pistols, and had 
flags hoisted. They held a sort of hjformal 
election, off at one side, at first for Governor of 
Kansas, and shortly afterward announced Thomas 



Johnson, of Shawnee Mission, elected Governor. 

The polls had been opened but a short time 
when Mr. Jon. s marched with the crowd up to the 
window asd demanded that they should be al- 
lowed to vote without swearing as to their resi- 
dence. After so no noisy and threatening 
talk, Claiborne F. Jackson addressed the crowd, 
saying they had come there to vote — they had a 
right to vote if they had been there but five min- 
utes, and he was not willing to go home without 
votinir, which was received with cheers. 
Jackson then called ttpcn teem to ionn into little 
bands of fifteen or twenty, which they did, 
and went to an ox wagon filled with guns, which 
were distributed among them, and proceeded 
to lead some of them on the ground. In pur- 
suance of Jackson's request, they tied white tape 
or ribbons in their buttonholes, so as to distinguish 
them from the "aboliionist". They again de- 
manded that the Judges should resign, and upon 
their refusing to do so, smashed in the window, 
sash and all, and presented their pistols and guns 
to them, threatening to shoot them. Some 
one on the outside cried out to them not to shoot, 
as there were pro-slavery men in the room with 
the Judges. They then put a pry under the 
corner of the house, which was a log house, and 
Kfted it up a few inches, and let it fall again, 
but desisted upon being told there were pro-sla- 
very men in the house. During this time the 
crowd repeatedly demanded to be allowed to vote 
without being sworn, and Mr. Ellison, one of the 
Judges, expressed himself willing, but the other 
two Judges refused. Thereupon a body of 
men, headed by "Sheriff Jones," rushed into the 
Judges' room with cocked pistols and drawn bow- 
le knives in their hands, and approached Burson 
and Ramsay. Jones pulled out his watch, 
and said he would give them five minutes to re- 
sign in, or die. "When the five minutes had 
expired and the Judges did not resign, Jones said he 
would give them another minute and no more. 
Ellison told his associates that if they did not re- 
sign there would be one hundred shots fired in the 
room in less than fifteen minutes ; and then 
snatching up the ballot box ran out into the crowd, 
holding up the ballot box and hurrahing for Mis- 
souri. About that time Burson and Ramsay 
were called out by their friends, and not suffered to 
return. As Mr. Burson went out he put the 
ballot poll books in his pocket, and took them with 
him ; and as he was going out Jones snatched 
some papers away from him, and shortly af- 
terwards came out himself holding them up, cry- 
ing, " Hurrah for Missouri.!" After he dis- 
covered they were not the poll books he took a par- 
ty of men and started off to take the poll books 
from Burson. Mr. Burson saw them coining 
and he gave the books to Mr. Umberger and told 
him to start off in another direction, so as to mis- 
lead Jones and his yarty. Jones and his par- 
ty caught Mr. Umberger, took the poll books away 
from him, and Jones took him up behind him on a 
horse, and carried him back a prisoner. Af- 
ter Jones and his party had taken Umberger back, 
they went to the house of Mr. Ramsay and took 
Judge John A. Wakefield prisoner, and carried 
him to the place of election, and made him 
get up on a wagon and make them a speech, after 
which tfcey put a white ribbon in his button hole 
and let him go. They then chose two new 
Judges, and proceeded with the election. 

They also threatened to kill the Judges if they 
did not receive their votes without swearing them, 
or else resign. They said no man should 
vote who would s " bruit to be sworn — that they 
would kill any one who would offer to do so — 
'•'.shoot !■ im," " cut his g"ts out," &c, They 
sal J . no man should vote this day unless he voted 



an open ticket, and was "all right on the goose," 
and that if they could not vote by fair 
means they would by foul means. They 
said they had as much right to vote, if they had 
been in the Territory two minutes, as if they had 
been there two years, and they would vote. 
Some of the citizens who were about the window, 
but had not voted when the crowd of Missourians 
marched up there, upon attempting to vote, were 
driven back by the mob or driven off. One 
of them, Mr. J. M. Macey, was asked if he would 
take the oath, and upon his replying that he would 
if the judges required it, he was dragged through 
the crowd, away from the polls, amid cries of 
"kill the d — d nigger thief," "cut his thoat," "tear 
his heart out," &e. After they got him to the out- 
side of the crowd, they stood around him with 
coe&ed revolvers and drawn bowie knives, one 
man putting a kniie to his heart, so that it touched 
him, another holding a cocked pistol to his ear, 
while another struck at him with a club. 
The Mis ourians said they had a right to vote if 
they h'd been in t^e Territory but five minutes 

Some sa'd they had been hired to come 
there and vote, and get a dollar a day, and by 
G— d, they would vote or die there. 

They said the 30th day of March was an im- 
portant day, as Kansas would be made a slave 
btate on that day. They began to leave in 
the direction of Missouri in the aft rnoon, after 
thev had voted, leaving some 30 or 40 around 
the house where the election was held, to guard 
the pol s until after the election was over. 
The citizens of the Territory were not around, ex- 
cept thi se who took part in the mob, and a 
large portion of them did not vot j 341 votes 
were polled there hat day, ot which but some 30 
were citizens. A protest against the elec- 
tion made to the governor. The returns of 
the election made to the governor were lost by the 
Committee of Elections of the Legislature at Paw- 
nae. Th.3 duplicate returns left in the bal- 
lot box were taken by F. E. Laley, one of the 
judges elected by the Missourians, and were either 
lost or destroyed in his house, so that your 
committee have been unable to institute a compari- 
son between the poll lists and census returns of 
this district. The testimony, however, is uniform., 
that not even 30 of those who voted there that day 
were entitled to vote, leaving 311 illegal votes. — 
We are satisfied from the testimony that, had the 
actual settlers alone voted, the free State candidates 
would have been elected by a handsome majority. 

THIRD DISTBICT — TECUMSEH. 

On the 28th of March persons from Clay, Jack- 
son, and Howard counties, Mo., began to come into 
Tecumseh, in wagons, carriages, and on horseback, 
armed with guns, bowie-knives and revolvers, and 
with threats, and encamped close by the town, and 
continued camping until the day of election. 
The night before the election 200 men were sent for 
from the camp of Missourians at Lawrence. 
On the morning of the election before the polls 
were opened, some 300 or 400 Missourians, and 
others, were collected in the yard ?.bout the house 
of Thomas Stinson, where the election was to be 
held, armed with bowie-knives, revolvers and clubs 
They said they came to vote, and whip the 
damned Yankees, and would vote without being 
sworn. Some said they came to have a fight 
and wanted one. Colonel Sam'l H. Wood- 
son, of Independence, Mo., was in the room of the 
Judges when they, preparing poll- books and tally 
lists, and remained there during their attempts to 
organize. The room of the Judges was also 
filled by many of the strangers. The Judges 
could not agree concerning the oath to be taken by 
themselves, and the oath to be administered to the 
voters. Mr. Burgess desiring to administe r the 



oath prescribed b3 r the Governor, and the other 
two Judges ^opposing it. During this dis- 
cussion between the Judges, which lasted some 
time, the crowd outside became excited and uoisy, 
threatening and cursing Mr. Burgess, the Free 
State Judge. Persons ware sent at different 
timee by the crowd outside into the room where 
the Judges were, with threatening messages, es- 
pecially against Mr. Burgess, and at last ten 
minutes were given them to organize in, or leave; 
and as the time passed, persons outside would call 
out the number of minutes left, with threats against 
Burgess if he did not agree to organize. At 
the end of that time the Judges not being able to 
organize, left the room, and the crowd proceeded to 
elect nine Judges and carry on the election. 
The Free State men generally left the ground 
without voting, stating that there was no use in 
their voting there. The polls were so crowd- 
ed during the first part of the clay that the citizens 
could not get up to the window to vote. 
Threats were made against the Free State men. 
In the afternoon the Re^. Mr. Grispatrick 
was attacked and driven off by the o ob. A man 
by some called "Texas," made a speech to the 
crowd, urging them to vote and remain on the 
ground until the polls were closed, for fear the 
abolitionists would come there in the afternoon 
and overpower them, and thus they would lose all 
their trouble. 

For making an affidavit in a protest against this 
election, setting forth the facts, Mr. Burgess was 
indicted by the Grand Jury for perjury, which in- 
dictment was found more than fifteen months ago, 
and is still pending, Mr. Burgess never having 
been informed who his accusor was, or what was 
the testimony against him. A large major- 
ity, four to one, of the actual settlers of that dis- 
trict were free State men, and there cannot 
be the least doubt that if none but the actual set- 
tlers of the district had voted at that election, the 
free State candidate would have been elected. The 
number of legal voters in the district, according to 
the census returns, was 101. The toial number 
ot votes cast was 37 ', and 5 hesc, on 32 are on 
the returns, and, from the testimony and records, 
we are satisfied that not over 40 legal votes were 
cast at that election. A body of armed Missoun- 
ans came into the district previous to the election, 
and encamped there. Before the time ar- 
rived for opening polls, the Missourians went to 
another than the towu appointed for the election ; 
and one of the Judges appointed by the Governor, 
and two chosen by the Missourians, proceeded to 
open the polls and carry on the election. 
The Missourians said none but pro-slavery men 
should vote, and threatened to shoot any Free State 
man who should come up to vote. Mr. Mockbee, 
one of tLe judges elected by the Missourians, had 
a store near the boundary fixed by the proclama- 
tion of the Governor, while he cultivated a farm 
in Missouri, where his family lived, and where his 
legal residence was then and is now. The Mis- 
sourians also held a side election for Governor of the 
Territory, voting for Thomas Johnson of Shawnee 
Mission. The Free State men, finding the polls 
under the control of non-residents, refused to, and 
did not, vote. They constituted a decided majority 
of the actual settlers. A petition signed bv a ma- 
jority of t.'-e residents of the district was sent to 
the Governor. The whole number of voters in 
this district, according to the census returns, was 
47; the number of votes cast was 80, of whom bit 
15 were res : dents whose names are on the census 
roils, who did not vote, was 32. 

For some days prior to 'he election, companies 
of men were organized in Jackson, Cass, and Clay 
counties, Mo., for the purpose of coming to the 
Territory and voting in the 5th District. The day 



previous to the election, some 400 or 500 Missouri- 
ans, armed with guns, pistols, and knives, cime 
into the Territory and camped, some at Bull Creek, 
and others at Potawatamie Creek. Their camos 
were about 16 miles apart. On the evening before 
the electi-n, Judge Hamilton, of the Cass County 
Court, Mo., came from the Potawatamie Creek 
camp to Bull Creek for 50 Missourians, as they 
had not enough there to render the election certain, 
and about that number went down there with him. 
On the evening before the e'ection Dr. B.D. "West- 
fal 1 was elected to act as 0113 of the Judges of Elec- 
tion in the Bull Creek precint, in place of one of 
the Judges appointed by the Governor, who, it was 
said, would not be there the next day. Dr. West- 
fall was at that time a ci izen of Jackson county, 
Mo. On the morning of election, the polls for 
Bull Creek precint were opened, and, without 
swearing the Judges, then proceeded to receive the 
votes of all who offered to vot . For the sake of 
appearance, they would get some one to c-me to 
the window and offer to vote, and when asked to 
be sworn, he would pretend to grow angry at the 
Judges, and would go away, and his rame would 
b 3 put down as having offered to vote, but "reject- 
ed, refusing to be sworn." This arrangement was 
made previously, and perfectly understood by the 
•Judges. But few of the residents of the District 
were present at the election, and only 13 voted. — 
The number of votes cast in the precint was 393. 

One Missourian voted for himself and then voted 
for his little son, but 10 or 11 years old. Col. Cof- 
fer, Henry Younger, and Mr. Lykins, who were 
voted for and elected to the .Legislature, were resi- 
dents of Missouri at the time. Col. Coffer subse- 
quently married in the Territory. After the polls 
were closed the returns were made, and a man, 
claiming to be a magistrate, certified on them that 
he had sworn the Judges of Election before open- 
ing the polls. In the Potawatamie precinct, the 
Missourians attended the election, and after threat- 
ening Mr. Chesnut, the only Judge present appoint- 
ed by the Governor, to induce him to resign, they 
proceeded to elect two other Judges — one a Missou- 
rian and the other a resident of another precinct of 
that District. The polls were then opened, and all 
the Missourians were allowed to vote without be- 
ing sworn. 

After the polls were closed, and the returns made 
out, for the signature of the Judges, Mr. Chesnut 
refused to sign them, as he did not consider them 
correct returns of legal voters. 

Col. Coffer, a resident of Missouri, but elected to 
the Kansas Legislature from that District at that 
election, endeavored with others to induce Mr. Ches- 
nut by threats to sign the returns, which he refused 
to do, and left the hi >use. On his way home he was 
fired at by som? Missourians, though not injured. 
There were three illegal to one legal vote given 
there that day. At the Big Layer precinct, the 
judges appointed by the Governor met at the time 
ap lointed, and proceeded to open the polls, after 
being duly sworn. After a few votes had been re- 
ceived, a party of Missourians came into the yard 
of the house where the election was held, and un- 
loading a wagon filled with arms, stacked their 
guns in the the yard, and came up to the window 
and demanded to be admitted to vote. Two of the 
judges decided to receive their votes, whereupon 
the third judge, Mr. J. M. Arthur, resigned, and an- 
other was chosen in his place. Col. Young, a citi- 
zen of Missouri, but a candidate for and elected to 
the Territorial Legislative Council, was present and 
voted in the precinct. He claimed that all Missou- 
rians who were present on the day of election were 
entitled to vote. But thirty or forty of the citizens 
of the precinct were present. At the Little Sugar 
precinct, the election seemed to have boeu conduct- 
ed fairly, and there a Free State majority was poll- 



ed. From the testimony, the whole district appears 
to have been largely Free State, and had none but 
actual settlers voted, the Free State candidates 
would have been elected by a large majority. From 
a careful examination of the testimony and the re- 
cords, we find that from 200 to 225 legal votes were 
polled out of 885, the total number given in the pre- 
cincts of the fifth district. Of the total votes cast, 
the Free State candidates received 152. 

SIXTH DISTRICT— FORT SCOTT. 

A compauy of citizens from Missouri, mostly 
from Bates County, came into this district the day 
before the election, some camping and others put- 
ting up at the public house. They numbered from 
100 to 200, and came in wagons and on horseback, 
carrying their provisions and tents with them, and 
were generally armed with pistols. They declar- 
ed their purpose to vote and claimed the right to 
do so. They went to the polls generally in small 
bodies, with tickets in their hands, and many, if 
not all, voted. In some cases they declared they 
had voted, and gave their reasons for so doing. 
Mr. Anderson, a Pro-Slavery candidate for the 
Legislature, endjavored to dissuade the non-resi- 
dents from voting, because he did not wish the elec- 
tion contested. This person, however, insisted 
an voting, and upon his right to do so. No one 
was challenged or sworn, and all voted who desir- 
ed to. Out ef 350 votes cast, not over 100 were le- 
gal, and but 64 of those named in the census taken 
one month before by Mr. Barber, the candid, te for 
Council voted. Many of the Free State men did 
not vote, but your Committee is satisfied that, of 
the legal votes cast, the Pro-Slavery candidates 
received a majority. Mr. Anderson, one of 
these candidates, was an unmarried man, who 
came into the District from Missouri a few days 
before tne election, and boarded at the public house 
until the day after the election. He then took with 
him the poll list, and did not return to Fort Scott 
until the occasion of a barbecue the week before 
the election of October 1, 1855. He voted at that 
election, and after it left, and has not since been in 
the District. S. A. Williams, the other Pro-Sla- 
very candidate, at the time of the election had a 
claim in the Territory, but his legal residence was 
not there until after the election. 

SEVENTH DISTRICT. 

From two to three hundred men from the State 
of Missouri camejin wagons or o i horseback to the 
election ground at Switzer's Creek, in the 7th Dis- 
trict, and encamped near the polls on the day pre- 
ceding the election. They were armed with pis- 
tols and other weapons, and declared their purpose 
to vote, in order to secure the election of Pro- Sla- 
very members. They said they were disappointed 
in not finding more \ ankees there, and that they 
liad brought more men than was necessary to 
counterbalance their vote. A number of them 
wore badges of blue r:bbon, with a motto, and the 
company were under the direction of leaders. 
They declared their intention to conduct themselves 
peacefully, unless the residents of the Territory 
attempted to stop them from votino-. Two of the 
Judges of Election appointed by Governor Reeder, 
refused to serve, whereupon two others were ap- 
pointed in their stead by the crowd of Missourians 
who surrounded the polls. The newly appointed 
Judges refused to take the oath prescribed by Gov. 
Reeder, but made one to suit themselves. Andrew 
Johnson requested each voter to swear if he had a 
claim in the Territory, and if he had voted in an- 
other district. The Judges did not take the oath 
prescribed, but were sworn to receive all legal 
votes. The Missourians voted without being 
sworn. They supported H. J. Strickler, for Coun- 
cil, and M. W. McGee for Representative. They 
left the evening of the election. Some of them 
started on horseback for Lawrence, they said they 



could be there before night, and all went the way 
they came. The census shows 53 legal voters in 
the District. 253 votes were cast ; of these 25 
were residents ; 17 of whom were in the District 
when the census was taken. Some of the residents 
present at the polls did not vote, declaring it use- 
less. Candidates declined to ran on the Free-State 
ticket, because they were unwilling to run the risk 
of so unequal a contest, it being known that a great 
many were coming up from Missouri to vote. 
Nearly all the settlers were Free- State men, and 23 
of the 25 legal votes given were cast for the only 
Free-State candidate running. Mobiller McGee, 
who was declared elected Representative, had a 
claim — a saw-mill and a house in the Territory — 
and he was there part of the time. But his legal 
residence is now, and was then, near Westport, in 
Missouri, where he owns and conducts a valuable 
farm, and where his family resides. 

EIGHTH DISTRICT. 

This was attached to the Seventh District for a 
member of the Council and a representative, and 
its vote was controlled by the illegal vote cast 
then. The census shows 39 votes in it — 37 votes 
were cast, of whom a majority voted the Free State 
ticket. 

NINTH DISTRICT. 

Fort Riley and Pawnee are in this district. The 
latter place was selected by the Governor as the 
temporary capital; and he designed there to ex- 
pend the sums appropriated by Congress in the 
construction of suitable houses for the Legislature, 
A good deal of building was then being done at the 
fort nearby. For these reasons a number of me- 
chanics, mostly from Pennsylvania, came imo this 
district in March, 1855, to seek employment. Some 
of these voted at the election, The construction of 
the capital was first postponed, then abandoned, 
and finally the site of the town was declared by the 
Secretary of War to be within the military reser- 
vation of Fort Riley. Some of the inhabitants re- 
turned to the States, and some went to other parts 
of the Territory. Your Committee find that they 
came as settlers, intending to remain as such, and 
were entitled to vote. 

TENTH DISTRICT. 

In this district ten persons belonging to the 
Wyandott tribe of Indians voted. They were of 
that class who under the law are entitled to vote, 
but their residence was in Wyandott village, at 
the mouth of Kansas river, and they had no right 
to vote in this district. They voted the pro-slave- 
ry ticket. Eleven men, recently from Pennsylvania, 
A T 'oted the Free State ticket. From the testimony, 
they had not, at i he time of the election, so estab- 
lished their residence as to have entitled them to 
vote. In both these classes of cases the Judges 
examined the voters under oath, and allowed them 
to vote, and in all respects the election seems to 
have been conducted fairly. The rejection of both 
would not have changed the result. This and the 
Eighth Election District, formed one Representa- 
tive District, and was the only one to which the 
invasion from Missouri did not extend. 

ELKVFNTH DISTRICT 

The IXth, Xth, Xlth and" XJIth Election Dis- 
tricts, being all sparsely settled, were attached to- 
gether as a Council District, and the Xlth and 
Xllth as a Representative District. This Election 
District is 60 miles north from Pawnee and 150 
miles from Kansas City. It is the northwest set- 
tlement in the Territory, and contained, when the 
census was taken, but 36 inhabitants, of whom 24 
were voters. There was, on the day of election, 
no white settlement about Marysville. the place of 
voting, for 40 miles, except that Marshall and 
Bishop kept a stare and a ferry at the crossing of 
the Big Blue and California road. Your commit- 
tee were unable to procure witnesses from this Dis- 



trict. Persons who were present at the election 
were duly summoned by an officer, and among 
them was F. J. Marshall, the member of the House 
from that District. On his return the officer was 
arrested and detained, and persons bearing the 
names of some of the witnesses summoned were 
stopped near Leeompf on, and did not appear before 
the Committee. The returns sbow, that in defi- 
ance of the Governor's proclamation, the voting 
was viva voce, instead of by ballot. 328 names 
appear upon the poll books, as voting, and by com- 
paring these names with tfcose on the census rolls, 
we find that but seven of the latter voted. The 
person voted for as Representative, F. J. Marshall, 
was chief owner of the store at Marysville, and 
was there sometimes, but his family lived in Wes- 
ton. John Donaldson, the candidate voted for, for 
the Council, then lived in Jackson county, Mis- 
sourt. 

On the day after the election, Mr. Marshall, with 
25 or 30 men from Weston, Mo., was on the way 
from Marysville to the State. Some of the party 
told a witness who had formerly resided at Wes- 
ton, that they were up at Marysville and carried 
the day for Missouri, and that they had voted about 
150 votes. Mr. Marshall paid the bill at that point 
for the party. 

There does not appear to have been any emigra- 
tion into that district in March, 1855, after the cen- 
sus was taken, and judging from the best test in 
the power of your Committee, there were but sev- 
en legal votes cast in the district, and 321 illegal. 

TWELFTH DISTRICT. 

The election in this district was conducted fairly. 
No complaint was made that illegal votes were 
cast. 

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT. 

Previous to the dayot election, several hundreds 
of Missourians from Platte, Clay, Boone, Clinton 
and Howard counties, came into the district in wag- 
ons and on horseback, and camped there. They 
v ere armed with guns, revolvers and bowie-knives, 
and had badges of hemp in their button-holes and 
elsewhere about their persons. They claimed to 
have a right to vote, from the fact that they were 
there on the ground, and had, or intended to make 
claims in the Territory, although their families 
were in Missouri. 

The Judges appointed by the Governor opened 
the polis, and some persons offered to vote, and 
when th ir votes were rejected, on the ground that 
they were not residents of the district, the crowd 
threatened to tear the house down if the Judges did 
not leave. The Judges then withdrew taking the 
poll books with them. 

The crowd then proceeded to elect other persons 
to act as judges, and the election went on. Those 
persons voting who were sworn, were asked if they 
considered themselves residents of the district, and 
if they said they did, they were allowed to vote. — 
After the Missourians got through voting they re- 
turned home. 

A formal return was made by the Judges of the 
election, setting out the facts, but it was not veri- 
fied. The number of legal voters in th ; s distr-ct, 
was 96, of whom a majority were Free State men. 
Of these — voted. The total number of votes cast 
were 296. 

FOURTEENTH DISTRICT. 

It was generally rumored in this district for some 
days before the e ection, that the Missourians were 
coming over to vote. Previous to the election, men 
from Missouri came into the district and election- 
eered for the Pro-Slavery candidates. Gen David 
R. Atchison and a party, "controlled the nominations 
in one of the primary elections. 

BURR OAK PRECINCT. 

Several hundred Missourians, from Buchanan, 
Platte and Andrew counties, Mo., including a great 



many of the prominent citizens of St. Joseph, came 
into this precinct the day before and on the day of 
election, in wagons and on hor.-e, and encamped 
there. Arrangements were made for them to cross 
the ferry at St. Joseph free of expense to them- 
selves. They were armed with bowie knives and 
pistols, guns and rifles. On the morning of the 
election, the Free State candidates resigned in a 
body, on account of the presence of a large num- 
ber of armed Missourians, at which the crowd 
cheered and hurrahed. Gen. B. F. Stringfellow 
was present and was prominen in promoting the 
election of the pro-slavery ticket, as was also Hon. 
Willard P. Hall, and others of the most prominent 
citizens of St. Joseph, Mo. But one of the Judges 
of election, appointed by the Governor, served on 
that day, and the crowd "chose two others to supply 
the vacancies. 

The Missourians said th°y came there to vote for 
and secure the election of Major Wm. P. Richard- 
son. Major Richardson, elected to the Council, 
had had a farm in Missouri, where his wife and 
daughter lived with his son-in-law, Willard P. 
Hall, he himself generally going home to Missouri 
every Saturday night. The far i was generally 
known as the Richardson farm. He had a claim in 
the Territory upon which was a saw mill, and 
where he generally remained during the week. 

Some of the Missourians gave us their reason 
for voting, that they had heard that Eastern emi- 
grants were to be at that election, though no East- 
ern emigrants were there. Others said they were 
going to vote for the purpose of making Kansas a 
slave State. 

Some claimed that they had a right to vote un- 
der the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
rom the fact that they were present on the ground 
on the day of election. 

The Free State men generally did not vote, and 
those who did vote voted generally for John H. 
Whitehead, pro-slavery, for Council, against Maj. 
William P. Richardson, and did not vote at all for 
members of the Lower House. 

The parties were pretty nearly equally divided 
in the District, some being of opinion that the Free 
State party had a small majority, and others that 
the pro-slavery party had a small majority. After 
the election was over and the polls were closed.the 
Missourians returned home. During the day they 
had provisions and liquor served out free of ex- 
pense, to all. 

DONIPHAN PRECINCT. 

The evening before the election some 200 or 
more Missourians from Platte, Buchanan, Saline 
and Clay counties, Missouri, carae into this Pre- 
cinct, with tents, music, wagons and provisions, 
and armed with guns, rifles, pistols and bowie- 
knives, and encamped about two miles from the 
place of voting. They said they came to vote, to 
make Kansas a slave State, and intended to return 
to Missouri after they had voted. 

On the morning of the election the judges ap- 
pointed by the Governor would not serve, and oth- 
ers were appointed by the crowd. The Missouri- 
ans were allowed to vote without being sworn — 
some of them voting as many as eight or nine 
times : changing their hats and coats and giving in 
different names each time. After they had voted 
they returned to Missouri. The Free State men 
generally did not voet, though constituting a ma- 
jority in the Precinct. Upon counting the ballots 
in the box, and the names on the poll lists, it was 
found that there were too many ballots, and one of 
the judges of election took out ballots enough to 
make the two numbers correspond. 

WOLF RIVER PRECINCT. 

But few Missourians were present in this Pre- 
cinct, though some of them threatened one of the 
t judges, because he refused to receive their votes, 



10 



and whoa he resigned another was chosen in his 
place who consented to receive their votes. 

Protests were drawn up against the elections in 
the varions precints, in the 14th district, but on 
account of threats that greater numbers of Missou- 
rians would be at a new election, should it be called, 
and of personal violence to those who should take 
part in the protest, it was not presented to the Gov- 
ernor. Major Kichardson, the pro-slavery candi- 
date for Council, threatened Dr. Cutler, "the free 
State candidate, that if he contested the election he 
and his office should be put in the Missouri river. 

The number of votes in the district by the the 
census was 334— of these 124 voted. The testi- 
mony shows that quite a number of persons whose 
legal residence was in the populous county of Bu- 
chanan, Mo., on the opposite of the river, had claims 
in the Territory. Some ranged cattle, others mar- 
ked out their claim and built a cabin, and sold 
this incipient title where they could. They were 
not residents of the Territory in any just or legal 
sense. A number of settlers moved into the dis- 
trict in the month of March. Your Committee are 
satisfied, after a careful analysis of the records and 
testimony, that the number of legal votes cast did 
did not exceed 200— out of 727. 

FIFTEENTH DISTRICT. 

The election in this District was held in the house 
of a Mr. Hays. On the day of election a crowd of 
from 400 to 500 men colleeted around the polls, 
of which the great body were citizens of Missouri. 
One of the Judges of Election, in his testimony 
states that the strangers commenced crowding 
around the polls, and then the residents left. — 
Threats were made before and during the election 
day, thai there should be no Free State candidates, 
although there were nearly or quite as many Free 
State as Pro-Slavery men resident in the District. 
Most of the crowd were drinking and carousing, 
cursing the Abolitionists and threatening the only 
Free State Judge of Election. A majority of those 
who voted wore hemp in their button holes, and 
their password was "all right on the hemp." Many 
of the Missourians were known and named 
by the witness. Several speeches were made by 
them at the polls, and amongst those who spoke 
were major Oliver, one of our Committee, Col. 
Burns and Lalan Williams of Platte county. Ma- 
jor Oliver urged upon all present to use no harsh 
words and expressed the hope that nothing would 
be said or done to harm the feelings of the most 
sensitive on the other side. He gave some 
grounds based on the Missouri Compromise in re- 
gard to the right of voting, and was understood to 
excuse the Missourians for voting. Your Commit- 
tee are satisfied that he did not vote. Col. Burns 
recommended all to vote, and he hoped none would 
go home without voting. Some of the Pro-Slavery 
residents were much dissatisfied at the interference 
with their rights by the Missourians, and for that 
reason — because reflection convinced them that 
it would be better to have Kansas a 
Free State— they "fell over the fence" — 
The judges requested the voters to take an oath 
that they were actual residents. They objected at 
first, some saying they had a claim, or "I am 
here." But the Free State Judge insisted upon 
the oath, and his associates, who at first were 



voters all took it after some grumbling. One said 
he cut him some poles and laid them in shape of 
a square, and that made him a claim ; and another 
said that he had cut him a few sticks of wood, and 
that made him a claim. The Free State men did not 
vote, although they believed their numbers to be 
equal to the pro-Slavery settlers, and some claimed 
that they had the majority. They were deterred 
by thi eats throughout by the Missourians, before 
and on the day of election, from putting up can- 



didates, and slave candidates were ran, for this 
reason — that there was a credited rumor previ- 
ously that the Missourians would control the 
election. The Free State Judge was threatened 
with expulsion from the polls, and a young man 
thrust a pistol into the window through which 
the votes were received. The whole number of 
voles cast was 417; of the names on the poll- 
book but 62 are in the census rolls, and the tes- 
timony shows that a small portion, estimated by 
one witness at one-quaiier of the legal voters, 
voted. Your Committee estimate the number of 
legal voters at 80. One of the Judges referred 
to certified that the election was fairly conducted. 
It was not contested because no one would take 
the responsibility of doing it, as it was not con- 
sidered safe, and that if another election was had 
the residents would fare no better. 

SIXTEENTH DISTRICT. 

For some time previous to the election, meetings 
were held and arrangements made in Missouri to 
get up companies to come over to the Territory 
and vote, and the day before and on the day of elec- 
tion, large bodies of Missourians from Platte, Clay, 
Ray, Charlton, Carrol, Clinton, and Saline coun- 
ties, Mo., came into this district and camped there. 
They were armed with pistols and bowie-knives, 
and some with guns and rifles, and had badges of 
hemp in their button holes and elsewhere about 
their persons. 

On the morning of the election there were from 
1000 to 1,400 persons present on the ground. Pre- 
vious to the election, Missourians endeavored to 
persuade the two Free State Judges to resign by 
making threats of personal violence to them, one of 
whom resigned on the morning of election, and the 
crowd chose another to fill his place. But one of 
the Judges, the Free State Judge, would take the 
oath prescribed by the Governor; the other two de- 
ciding that they had no right to swear any one who 
offered, to vote, but that all on *he ground were en- 
titled to vote. The only votes refused were some 
Delaware Indians, some 30 Wyandotte Indians be - 
ing allowed to vote. 

One of the Free-State candidates withdrew in 
consequence of the presence of the Missourians, 
amid cheering and acclamations by the Missouri- 
ans. During the day the steamboat New Lucy 
came down from Western Missouri, with a large 
number of Missourians on board, who voted and 
then returned on the boat. 

The Missourians gave as a reason for their com- 
ing over to vote, that the North had tried to force 
emigration into the Territory, and they wanted to 
counteract that movement. Some of the candi- 
dates and many of the Missourians took the ground 
that, under the Kansas-Nebraska act, all who were 
on the ground on the day of election were entitled 
to vote, and others, that laying out a town, staking 
a lot, or driving down stakes, even on another 
man's claim, gave them a right to vote. And one 
of the members of the Council, R. R. Rees, de- 
clared in his testimony that he who should put a dif- 
ferent construction upon the law must be either a 
knave or a tool. 

The Free State men generally did not vote at 
that election; and no newly arrived Eastern Emi- 
grants were there. The Free State Judge of E lee- 



disposed to waive it, coincided with hiin, and the- -Son refused to sign the returns until the words "by 



lawful resident voters" were stricken out, which 
was done, and the returns made in that way. The 
election was contested, and a new election ordered 
by Governor Reeder for the 22d of May. 

SEVENTEENTH DISTRICT. 

The election in this District seems to have been 
fairly conducted, and not contested at all. In this 
District the Pro-Slavery party had the majority. 

EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT. 

Previous to the election, General David R. Atch- 



11 



ison of Platte City, Mo., got up a company of Mis- 
s urians, and passing through Weston, Mo., went 
over into the Territory. He remained all night at 
the house of — , and then exhibited his arms, of 
which he had an abundance. He proceeded to the 
Nemohaer (18th,) District. On his way him and 
his party attended a Nominating Convention in the 
14tli District, and proposed and caused to be nom- 
inated a set of candidates in opposition to the wish- 
es of the Pro-Slavery residents of the district. At 
that Convention he said that there were 1,100 men 
coming over from Platte County, and if that wasn't 
enough they could send 5,000 more — that they 
came to vote, and would vote or kill every G — d 
d — d Abolitionist in the Territory. 

On the day of the election, the Missourians, un- 
der Atchison, who were encamped there, came up 
to the polls in the 10th District, taking the oath 
that they were residents of the district. The Mis- 
sourians were all armed with pistols or bowie 
knives, and said that there were 60 in their com- 
pany. But 17 votes given on that day were given 
by residents of the district. The whole number 
of votes was 62. 

R. L. Kirk, one of the candidates, came into the 
district from Missouri about a week before the elec- 
tion, and boarded there. He left after the election 
and was not at the time a legat resident of the dis- 
trict in which he was elected. No protest was sent 
to the Governor, on account of" threats made 
against any who should dare to contest the elec- 
tion. The following tables embody the result of 
the examination of your Committee in regard to 
this election. In some of the districts it was im- 
possible to ascertain the precise number of the le- 
gal votes cast. In such cases the number of legal 
and illegal votes cast is stated after a careful re- 
examination of all the testimony and records con- 
cerning the election. 

[A table, <rivmg an abstract of election of March 
30, 1855, by Representative Districts, we omit, be- 
ing very intricate, and not essential to an under- 
standing of the report. 

ABSTRACT OF CENSUS AND RETURNS OF ELECTION OF 
MARCH 30, 1S55, BY ELECTION DISTRICTS. 



PLACE OF 
VOTING. 



Lawrence 

Bloomington 

Stin's or recms'h. 
Dr. Chapman's. 

! Bull Creek.... 
Pptawatamie. . 
Big Sugar Creek 
Lit Sugar Creek 
rort Scott 

Isaac B.Tittus... 

Council Grove 

Pawnee 

tBigBlue 

(Rock Creek 

Marysville 

5 St. Mary's 

\ Silver Lake 

Hickory Point 

C Doniphan 

< Wolf Creek.... 
(B. Oak Hedges. 

Hayes 

Leavenworth 

Gum Springs 

Moonestown 



1-1 



230 



45 



1^ 



Total 5427 791 92 6320,1310 4908 8501 2892 13 26 



* Census. 



t Council. 



t House. 



Your Committee report the following facts not 
shown by the tables : 

Of the twenty-nine hundred and five voters 
named in the census-rolls, eight hundred and thir- 
ty-one are found on the poll books. Some of the 
settlers were prevented from attending the elec- 
tion by the distance of their homes from the polls, 
but the great majority were deterred by the open 
avowal that large bodies of armed Missourians 
would be at the polls to vote, and by the fact that 
they did so appear and control the election. The 
same ca.tses deterred the free State settlers from 
running candidates in several districts and in oth- 
ers induced the candidates to withdraw. 

The poll books of the 2nd and 8th Districts were 
lost, but the proof is quite clear that in the 2nd 
District there weje thirty, and in the 8th District 
thirty-eight legal votes, making a total of eight 
hundred and ninety-eight legal votes of the Terri- 
tory, whose names are on the census returns, and 
yet the proof, in the state in which we are obliged 
to present it, after excluding illegal votes, leaves 
the total vote of 1,310, showing a discrepancy of 
412. The discrepancy is accounted for in two 
ways; First, the coming in of settlers before the 
March election, and after the census was taken, or 
settlers who were omitted in the census; or second- 
ly, the disturbed state of the Territory while we 
were investigating the elections in some of the dis- 
tricts, thereby preventing us from getting 
testimony in relation to the names of legal voters at 
the time of election. 

If the election had been confined to the actual 
settlers undeterred by the presence of non-resi- 
dents, or the knowledge thatihey would be present 
in numbers sufficient to out vote them, the testi- 
mony indicates that the Council would have been 
composed of seven in favor of a free State, elected 
from the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, aud 6th Council Districts. 
The result in the 8th and 10th, electing three mem- 
bers, would have been doubtful, and the 5th, 8th 
and 9th, would have elected three pro-slavery 
members. 

Under like circumstances, the House of Repre- 
sentatives w uld have been composed of fourteen 
members in favor of making Kansas a free State, 
elected from the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 
10th Representative District. 

The result in the 12th and 14th Representative 
Districts, electing five members, would have been 
doubtful, and the 1st, 6th, 11th, and 15th districts 
would have elected seven pro-slavery members. 

By the election, as conducted, the Pro-Slavery 
candidates in every district but the 8th Represen- 
tative district, received a majority of the votes; 
and several of them, in both the Council and 
House, did not "reside in" and were not "inhabi- 
tants of" the district for which they were elected, 
as required by the organic law. By that act it was 
declared to be "the true intent and meaning of this 
"act to leave the people thereof perfectly free to 
"form and regulate their domestic institutions in 
"their own way, subject to the Constitution of the 
"United States." So careful was Congress of the 
right of popular sovereignty, that to secure it to the 
people, without a single petition from any portion 
of the country, they removed the restriction 
against Slavery imposed by the Missouri Com- 
promise. And yet this right, so carefully se- 
cured, was thus by force and fraud overthrown by 
a portion of the people of an adjoining State. 

The striking difference between this Republic 
and other Republics on this Continent is not in the 
provisions of Constitutions and laws, but that 
here changes in the administration of those laws 
have been made peacefully and quietly through 
the ballot-box. This invasion is the first and. 
only one in the history of our Government 
which an organized force from one S" ' 



12 



elected a Legislature for another State or Terri- 
tory, and as such it should have been resisted 
by the whole executive power of the National 
Government. 

Your Committee are of opinion that the Consti- 
tution and laws of the United States have in- 
vested the President and Governor of the Ter- 
ritory with ample power for this purpose. They 
could only act after receiving authentic informa- 
tion of the facts, but when received, whether before 
or after the certificates of election were granted. 
this power should have been exercised to its full 
est extent. It is not to be tolerated, that a Legis- 
lative body thus elected should assume or exer- 
cise any legislative functions ; and their enact- 
ments should be regarded as null and 
void ; nor should the question of its legal exis- 
tence as a legislative body, be determined by itself, 
as that would be allowing the criminal to judge of 
his own crime. In section 22 of the organic act it 
is provided, that " the persons having the highest 
"number of legal votes in each of said Council 
"Districts, for members of the Council, shall be 
"declared by the Governor to be duly elected to the 
"Council, and the persons having the highest num- 
"ber of legal votes for the House of Kepresenta- 
"tives, shall be declared by the Governor duly 
"elected members of said House." The procla- 
mation of the Governor required a verified notice 
of a contest, when one was made, to be filed with 
him within four days after the election. Within 
that time he did not obtain information as to force 
or fraud in any except the following Districts, and 
in these there were material defects in the returns 
of election. "Without deciding upon his power to 
set aside elections for force and fraud, they were 
set aside for the following reasons : 

In the 1st District, because the words " by law- 
ful resident voters" were stricken from the return. 

In the 2d District, because the oath was admin- 
istered by G. W. Taylor, who was not authorized to 
administer an oath. 

In the 3d District, because material erasures 
from the printed form of the oath wer> purposely 
made. 

In the 4th District for the same reason. 

In the 7th District, because the judges were 
not sworn at all. 

In the 11th District, because the returns show 
the election to have been held viva voce instead of 
by ballot. 

In the 16th District, because the words "by 
lawful residence " were stricken from the returns. 

Although the fraud and force i'> other districts 
were equally great as in these, yet as the Govern- 
or had no information in regard to them, he issued 
certificates according to the returns. 

ABSTRACT OF THE RETURNS OF ELECTION OF MAY 25, 1855 

JVo of Places of Pro-Slavery Free-State 

Dis. Voting Votes ' Votes Scat, To 

I. ...Lawrence.... — 288 18 306 

II Douglas — 127 — ]s7 

III....Stins'n's — 148 1 149 

VII. ..."110" - 66 13 79 

VIII. ...Council Grove— 33 — Zi 

XVI — Leavenworth 560 140 15 715 

Total 560 802 47 1409 

Tour Committee have felt it to be their duty not 
only to inquire into and collect evidence in regard 
to force and fraud attempted and practiced at the 
elections in the Territory, but also into the tacts 
and pretexts by which this force and fraud had been 
excused and justified ; and for this purpose your 
Committee have allowed the declarations of non- 
resident voters to be given as evidence in their own 
behalf; also the dedarations of all who came up 
the Missouri river as emigrants in March, 1855, 
whether they^ voted or not, and whether they came 
the Territory at all or not; and also the rumors 
"ere circulated among the people of Mis- 



souri previous to the election. The great body oi 
testimony taken at the instance of the sitting dele- 
gate is of this character. 

When the declarations of parties passing up the 
river were offered in evidence, your Committee re- 
ceived them upon the distinct statement that they 
would e excluded unless the persons making the 
declarations were by other proof shown to have 
been connected with the elections. This proof 
was not made, ?nd therefore much of this class of 
testimony is incompetent by the rules of law, but 
is allowed to remain, as ten. dug to show the cause 
of the action of the citizens of Missouri. The al- 
leged causes of the invasion of March 1855, are 
included in the following charges : 

I. That the New England Aid Society of Boston 
was then importing into the Territory large num- 
bers of men, merely for the purpose of controling 
the elections. That they came without women, 
children or baggage, went into the Territory, voted, 
and returned again. 

jj II. That men were hired in the Eastern or North- 
ern States, or induced to go to the Territory, solely 
to vote, and not to settle, and by so doing to make 
it a Free State. 

III. That the Governor of the Territory pur- 
posely postponed the day of election to allow this 
emigration to arrive, and notified the Emigrant 
Aid Society, and persons in the Eastern States, of 
the day of election, before he gave notice to the 
people of Missouri and the Territory. 

That these charges were industriously circula- 
ted; that grossly exaggerated statements were 
made in regard to them; that the newspaper press 
and leading men in public meetings in Western 
Missouri, aided in one case by a Chaplain of the 
United States Army, gave currency and credit to 
them, and thus excited the people, and induced 
many well meaning citizens of Missouri to march 
into the Territory to meet and repel the alledged 
Eastern paupers and Abolitionists, is fully proven 
by many witnesses. 
But these charges are not sustained by the proof. 
In April, 1S54, the General Assembly of Massa- 
chusetts passed an act entitled "An act to incorpo- 
rate the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society." — 
The object of the Society, as declared in the first 
section of this act, was "for the purpose of assist- 
ing emigrants to settle in the West." The mon- 
eyed capital of the corporation was not to exceed 
five millions of dollars, but no more than four per 
cent, could be assessed during the year 1854, and 
no more than 10 per cent, in any one year thereaf- 
ter. No organization was perfected or proceedings 
had under this law. 

On the 24th day of July, 1854, certain persons in 
Boston, Massachusetts, concluded articles of agree- 
ment and association for an Emigrant Aid Society. 
The purpose of this Association was declared to 
be "assisting emigrants to settle in the West." — 
Under these articles of association each stockhold- 
er was individually bable. To avoid this difficul- 
ty, an application was made to the General As- 
sembly of Massachusetts for an act of incorpora- 
tion, which was granted. On the 21st day of Feb- 
ruary, 1855, an act was passed to incorporate the 
New England Emigrant Aid Company. The pur- 
poses of this act were declared to be "directing 
emigration westward, and aiding and providing 
accommodation for the emigrants after arriving at 
their place of destination." The capital stock of 
the corporation was not to exceed one million of 
dollars. Under this charter a company was or- 
ganized. t 

Tour Committee have examined some of its offi- 
cers, and a portion of its circulars and records to 
ascertain what has been done by it. Ths public 
attention at that time was directed to the Territory 
of Kansas, and emigration naturally tended in 



13 



that direction. To ascertain its character and re- the domestic institutions of the Territory, and then 
sources, this Company sent its aeent into it, and overturn those of a neighboring powerful State 



the information thus obtained was published. — 
The Company made arrangements with various 
lines of transportation, to reduce the expense of 
emigration into the Territory, and procure tickets 
at the reduced rates. Applications were made to 
the Company by persons desiring to emigrate, and 
when they were numerous enough to form a party 
of convenient size, tickets were sold to them at 
the reduced rates. An agent acquainted with the 
route was selected to accompany them. Their bag- 
gage was checked, and all trouble and danger of 
loss to the emigrant in this way avoided. 

Under these arrangements, companies went into 
the Territory in the Fall of 1854, under the arti- 
cles of association referred to. The Company did 
not pay any portion of the fare, or furnish any per- 
sonal or real property to the emigrant. The Com- 
pany, during 1855, sent into the Territory from 
eight to ten saw mills, purchased one hotel in Kan- 
sas City, which they subsequently sold; built one 
hotel at Lawrence, and owned one other building 
in that place. In some cases, to induce them to 
make improvements, town lots were given to them 
by town associations in this Territory. They held 
no property of any other kind or description. They 
imposed no condition upon their emigrants, and did 
not inquire into their political, religious or social 
opinions. The total amount expended by them, 
including the salaries of their agents and officers, 
and the expenses incident to all organizations,, was 
less than $100,000, 

Their purposes, as far as your committee can as- 



In regard to the second charge: — There is uo 
proof that any man was either hired or induced to 
come into the Territory from any Free State, 
merely to vote. The entire emigration in March, 
1855, is estimated at 500 persons, including men, 
women and children. They came on steamboats 
up the Missouri river, in the ordinary course of 
emigration. Many returned for causes similar to 
those before stated, bat the body of them are now 
residents. The only persons of those Avho were 
connected by proof with the election, were some 
who voted at the Big Blue precinct in the 10th 
District, and at Pawnee in the 9th District. Their 
purpose and character are stated in a former part 
of this report. 

The third charge is entirely groundless. The 
organic law requires the Governor to cause an 
enumeration of the inhabitants and legal voters to 
be made, and that he apportion the members of the 
Council and House according to this enumeration. 
For reasons stated by persons engaged in taking 
the census, it was not completed until the early 
part of March, 1855. At that time the day of hold- 
ing the election had not been and could not have 
been named by the Governor. As soon as practi- 
cable after the returns were brought in, he issued 
his proclamation for an election, and named the 
earliest day consistent with due notice as the day 
of election. The day on which the election was to 
be held was a matter of conjecture all over the 
country. But it was generally known that it would 
be in the latter part of March. The precise day 



certain, were lawful, and contributed to supply was not k'town by any one until the proclamation 



those wants most experienced in the settlement of a 
new country. 

The only persons or company who emigrated 
into the Territory under the auspices of the Emi- 
grant Aid Society of 1855, prior to the election in 
March, was a party of 159 persons who came un- 
der the charge of Charles Kobinson. 

In this party there were 67 women and children. 
They came as actual settlers, intending to make 
their homes in the Territory, and for no other pur- 
pose. They had about their persons but little bag- 
gage; usually sufficient clothing in a carpet sack 
for a short time. Their personal effects, such as 
clothing, furniture, &c, was put into trunks and 
boxes; and for convenience in selecting, and cheap- 
ness in transporting, was marked "Kansas party 
baggage, care B. Slater, St. Louis." Generally 
this was consigned as freight in the usual way to 
the care of a commission merchant. This party 
had, in addition to the usual allowance of one hun- 
dred pounds to each passenger, a large quantity of 
baggage on which the respective owners paid the 
usual extra freight. 

Each passenger or party paid his or their own 
expenses ; and the only benefit they derived from 
the Society, not shared by all the people of the 
Territory, was the reduction of about $7 in the 
price of the fare, the convenience of travelling in a 
company instead of alone, and the cheapness and 
facility of transporting their freight through regu- 
lar agents. Subsequently, many emigrants, being 
either disappointed with the country or its political 
condition, or deceived by the statements made by 
the newspapers and by the agents of the Society, 
became dissatisfied, and returned, both before and 
after the election, to their old homes. Most of them 
are now settlers in the Territory. Some few voted 
at the election in Lawrence, but the number was 
small. The names of these emigrants have been 

ascertained, and of them were found upon the 

poll- books. This company of peaceful emigrants, 
moving with their household goods, was distorted 



issued. It was not known to the agents of the 
Emigrant Aid Society in Boston on the 13th of 
March, 1855, when the party of emigrants before 
referred to, left. 

Your Committee are satisfied that these charges 
were made the mere pretext to induce an armed in- 
vasion into the Territory, as a means to control 
the election and establish Slavery there. 

The real purpose is avowed and illustrated by 
the testimony and conduct of Col. John Scott, of 
St. Josephs' Missouri, who acted as the attorney 
for the sitting delegate before your Committee. — 
The following are extracts from his deposition : 

" Prior to the election in Burr Oak precinct, in 
the 14th district, on the 29 th November, 1854, 1 had 
been a resident of Missouri, and I then determined 
if I found it necessary, to become a resident of 
Kansas Territory. On the day previous to that 
election I settled my board at my boarding-house, 
in St. Josephs, Missouri, and went over to the 
Territory, and took boarding with Mr. Bryant, near 
whose house the polls were held the next day, for 
one month, so that I might have it in my power, 
by merely determining to do so, to become a resi- 
dent of the Territory on the day of election 

"When ray name was proposed as a Judge of 
Election, objections were made by two persons on- 
ly^ * * * j then publicly informed those 
present that I had a claim in the Territory; that I 
had taken board in the Territory for a month, and 
that I could at any moment become an actual resi- 
dent and legal voter in the Territory, and that I 
would do so, if I concluded at any time during the 
day that my vote would be necessary to carry that 
precinct in favor of the Pro-Slavery candidate for 
delegate to Congress. * * * I did not during 
the day consider it necessary to become a resident 
of the Territory for the purpose mentioned, and 
did not vote or offer to vote at that election. 

"I held the office of City Attorney for St. Jo- 
sephs at that time, and had held it for two or three 
years previously, and continued to hold it until 



into an invading horde of paper Abolitionists, who Mhis Spring. * * * I voted at an election in 
were, with others of a similar character, to control I St. Josephs in the Spring of 1855, and was re- 



14 



appointed City Attorney. The question of Slave- 
ry was put in issue at the election of November, 
1854, to the same extent as in every election in this 
Territory. Gen. Whitfield was regarded as the 
Pro-Slavery candidate for the Pro-Slavery party. 
I regarded the question of Slavery as the prima- 
rily prominent issue at that election, and so far as 
I know all parties agreed in making that question 
the issue of that election. 

"It is my intention, and the intention of a great 
many other Missourians now resident in Missouri, 
whenever the Slavery issue is to be determined 
upon by the people of this Territory in the adop- 
tion of the State Constitution, to remove to this 
Territory in time to acquire the right to become le- 
gal voters upon that question. The leading pur- 
pose of our intended removal to the Territory is to 
determine the domestic institutions of this Terri- 
tory, when it becomes to be a State, and we would 
not come but for that purpose, and wovld never 
think of coming here but for that purpose. I be- 
lieve there are a great many in Missouri who are 
so situated." 

The invasion of Marci 30th, left both parties in 
a state of excitement, tend : ng directly to produce 
violence. Tbe successful party was lawless and 
reckless, while assuming the name of the " Law 
and Order" party. The other narty, at first sur- 
prised and confounded, was greatly irritated, and 
some resolved to prevent the success o. the inva- 
sion. In some districts as before stated, protests 
were sent to the Governor ; in others this was pre- 
vented by threats ; in others by the want of time, 
only four days being allowed by the proclamation 
for "this purpose ; and in others by the belief that 
a new election would bring a new invasion. — 
About the same time, all classes of men commen- 
ced bearing deadly weapons about the person — a 
practice which has continued to this time. Under 
these circumstances, a slight or accidental quarrel 
produced unusual violence, and lawless acts be- 
came frequent. This evil condition of the public 
mind was further increased by acts of violence in 
Western Missouri, where, in April, a newspaper 
press called Tne Parksville Luminary was de- 
stroyed by a mob. 

About the same time, Malcom Clark assaulted 
Cole McCrea at a squatter meeting in Leavenworth, 
and was shot by McCrea in alleged self defence. 

On the 17th of May, William Phillips, a lawyer 
of Leavenworth, was first notified to leave, and 
upon his refusal, was forcibly seized, taken across 
the river, and carried several miles into Missouri, 
and then tarred and feathered, and one side of his 
head shaved, and other gross indignities put upon 
his person. 

Previous to the outrage a public meeting was 
held at which resolutions were unanimously pass- 
ed, looking to unlawful violence, and grossly and 
intolerant in their character. The right of free 
speech upon the subject of slavery was charac- 
terized as a disturbance of the peace and quiet of 
the community, and as "circulating incendiary 
a sentiments." They say " to the peculiar friends 
K of Northern fanatics." " Go home and do your 
" treason where you may find sympathy." Among 
other resolves is the following : 
Resolved, That the institution of slavery is known 
and recognized in this Territory; that we repel the 
doctrine that it is a moral and political evil, and we 
hurl back with scorn upon its slanderous authors 
the charge of inhumanity; and we warn all per- 
sons not to come to our peaceful firesides to slan- 
der us, and sow the seeds of discord between the 
master and the servant; for, as much as we de- 
precate the necessity to which we may be driven, 
we cannot be responsible for the consequences. 

A Committee of Vigilance of 30 men was ap- 
pointed "to observe and repel all such persons as 
shall * * * * by the expression of Abolition sen- 



timents produce disturbance to the quiet of the cit- 
izens, or danger to their domestic relations; and 
all such persons so offending shall be notified and 
made to leave the Territory." 

The meeting was "ably and eloquently addressed 
by Judge Lecompte, Col. J. G. Burns, of Western 
Missouri, and others." Thus the head of the Judi- 
ciary in the Territory not only assisted at a public 
and bitterly partisan meeting, whose direct tendency 
was to produce violence and disorder, but before 
any law is passed in the Territory, he pre-judges 
the character of the domestic institutions, which 
the people of the Territory were, by their organic 
law, "left perfectly free to form and regulate in 
their own way." 

On this Committee were several of those who 
held certificates of election as members of the Leg- 
islature: some of the others were "then, and still 
are residents of Missouri, and many of the Com- 
mittee have since been appointed to the leading of- 
fices in the Territory, one of which is the Sheriff- 
alty of the county. Tbeir first act was that of 
mobbing Phillips. 

Subsequently, on the 25th of May, A. D. 1855, a 
public meeting was held, at which R. R. Rees, a 
member elect of the Council, presided. The fol- 
lowing resolutions, offered by Judge Payne, a 
member elect of the House, were unanimously 
adopted: 

Resolved, That we heartily indorse the action 
of the Committee ot citizens that shaved, tarred 
and feathered, rode on a rail, and sold by a negro, 
Wm. Phillips, the moral perjurer. 

Resolved, That we return our thanks to the 
Committee for faithfully performing the trust en- 
joined upon them by the Pro-Slavery party. 

Resolved, That the Committee be now discharged. 

Resolved, That we severally condemn these Pro- 
Slavery men who from mercenary motives, are 
calling upon the Pro-Slavery party to submit 
without further action. 

Resolved, That in order to secure peace and har- 
mony to the community, we now f olemnly declare 
that the Pro-Slavery party will stand firmly by 
and carry out the resolutions reported by the Com- 
mittee appointed for that purpose on the memora- 
ble 30th. 

The act of moral perjury here referred to, is the 
swearing by Phillips to a truthful protest in re- 
gard to the election of March 30, in the 16th dis- 
trict. 

The members receiving their certificates of the 
Governor as members of the General Assembly of 
the territory, met at Pawnee, the place appointed 
by the Governor, on the 2d of July, A. D. 1855. 
Their proceedings are stated in three printed 
books, herewith submitted, entitled respectively, 
"The Statutes of the Territory of Kansas," " The 
Journal of the Council of the Territory of Kansas," 
and " The Journal of the House of Representatives 
of the Territory of Kansas." 

Your Committee do not regard their enactments 
as valid laws. A Legislature thus imposed upon 
a people cannot affect their political rights. Such 
an attempt to do so, if successful, is virtually an 
overthrow of the organic law, and reduces the 
people of the Territory to the condition of vassals 
to a neighboring State. To avoid the evils of 
anarchy, no armed or organized resistance to 
them snonld be made, but the citizens should ap- 
peal to the ballot box at public elections, to the 
Federal Judiciary, and to Congress for relief. 
Such, from the proof, would have been the course 
of the people, but for the nature of these enact- 
ments, and the manner in which they are enforced. 
Their character and their execution have been so 
intimately connected with one branch of this in- 
vestigation — that relating to "violent and tumul- 
tuous proceedings in the Territory" — that we were 
comnelled to examine them. 



15 



The " laws" in the staiute books are general and 
special ; the latter are strictly of a local character, 
relating to bridges, roads, and the like. The great 
body of the general laws are exact transcripts of 
the Missouri Code. To make them in some cases 
conform to the organic act, separate acts were pas- 
sed defining the meaning of words. Thus the 
word " State" is to be understood as meaning 
" Territory," the word " County Court shall be 
construed* to mean the Board of Commissioners 
transacting county business, or the Probate Court, 
according*to the intent thereof. The words " Cir- 
cuit Cou. t" to mean District Court." 

The material differeuce in the Missouri and Kas- 
sas statutes are upon the following subjects : The 
qualifications of voters and of members of the 
Legislative Assembly ; the official oath of all offi- 
cers, attorneys and voters ; the mode of selecting 
officers and the qualifications of jurors. 

Upon these subjects the provisions of the Mis- 
souri Code are such as are usual in many of the 
States. But by the "Kansas Statutes," every of- 
ficer in the Territory, executive and judicial, was 
to be appointed by the Legislature, or by some offi- 
cer appointed by it. These appointments were not 
merely to meet a temporary exigency, but were to 
hold over to regular election and until after the 
general election in October, 1857, at which the 
members of the new Council were to be elected. 
The new Legislature is required to meet on the first 
Monday in January, 1S58. Thus, by the terms of 
these "Laws," the people have no control whatev- 
er over either the Legislature, the Executive, or the 
Judicial departments of the Territorial Govern- 
ment until a time before which, by the natural pro- 
gress of population, the Territorial Government 
will be superseded by a State Government. 

No session of the Legislature is to be held dur- 
ing 185fi, but the members of the House are to be 
elected in October of that year. A candidate, to be 
eligible at this election, must swear to support the 
Fugitive Slave Law, and each Judge of election, 
and each voter, if challenged, must take the same 
oath. The same oath is required of every officer 
elected or appointed in the Territory, and of every 
attorney admitted to practice in the courts. 

A portion of the militia is required to muster on 
the day of the election. " Every free white male 
" citizen of the United States, and every free male 
"Indian who is made a citizen by treaty or other- 
" wise, and over the age of twenty-one years, and 
"who shall be an inhabitant of the Territory, and 
" of the County and District in which he offers to 
" vote, and shall have paid a territorial tax, shall 
" be a qualified elector for all elective offices." Two 
classes of persons were thus excluded who by the 
organic act was allowed to vote, viz : those who 
would not swear to the oath required, and those of 
foreign birth who had declared on oath their inten- 
tion to become citizens. Any man of proper age 
who was in the Territory on the day of election.and 
who had paid one dollar as a tax to the Sheriff, who 
was required to be at the polls to receive it, could 
vote as an " inhabitant," although he had break- 
fasted in Missouri and intended to return there for 
supper. There can be no doubt that this unusual 
and unconstitutional provision was inserted to pre- 
vent a full and fair expression of the popular will 
in the election of members of the House, or to con- 
trol it by non-residents. 

All Jurors are required to be selected by the 
Sheriff, and "no person who is conscientiously op- 
posed "to the holding of slaves, or who does not 
"admit the right to hold slaves in the Territory 
"shall be a Juror in any cause" affecting the right 
to hold slaves or relating to slave property. 

The Slave Code, and every provision relating to 
slaves, are of a character intolerant and unusual 
even for that class of legislation. The character 



and conduct of the men appointed to hold office in 
the Territory contributed very much to produce the 
events which followed. Thus, Samuel I. Jones 
was appointed Sheriff of the county of Douglas, 
which included within it the 1st and 2nd Election 
District. He had made himself peculiarly obnox- 
ious to the settlers by his conduct on the 30 th of 
March, in the 2d District, and by his burning the 
cabins of Joseph Oakley and Samuel Smith. 

An election for delegates to Congress, to be held 
on the 1st day of October 1855, was provided for 
with the same rules and regulations as were ap- 
plied to other elections. The free State men took 
no part in this election, having made arrangements 
for holding an election on the 9th of the same 
month. The citizens of Missouri attended at the 
election ot the 1st of October, some paying the dol- 
lar tax, others not being required to pay it. They 
were present and voted at the voting places of 
Atchiso.) and Doniphan in Atchison county; at 
Green Springs, Johnson county; at Willow 
Springs, Franklin and Lecompton, in Douglas 
county; at Fort Scott, Bourbon county; atBaptiste 
Paela, Lynkins county, where some Indians voted, 
some whites paying the $1 tax for them; at Leav- 
enworth city and Kicapoo city, Leavenworth coun- 
ty; at the latter place under the lead of General B. 
F. Stringfellow and Col. Lewis Barnes, of Missouri. 
From two of the election precints at which it was 
alleged there was illegal voting, viz: Delaware and 
Wyandotte, your Committee failed to obtain 
the attendance of witnesses. Your Committee 
did not deem it necessary in regard to this 
election to enter into details, as it was manifest 
that from there being but one candidate — General 
Whitfield — he must have received a majority of the 
votes cast. This election, therefore, depends not 
on the number or character of the votes received, 
but upon the validity of the laws under which it 
was held. Sufficient testimony was taken to show 
that the voting of citizens of Missouri was prac- 
ticed at th s election, as at all former elections in 
the Territory. The following table will exhibit 
the result ot the testimony as regards the number 
of legal and illegal votes at this election. The 
county of Marshall embraces the same territory 
as was included in the 11th district; and the rea- 
sons before stated indicate that the great majority 
of the votes then cast were either illegal or ficti- 
tious. In the counties to which our examination 

extended, there were illegal votes cast, as 

near as the proof will enable us to determine. 

ABSTRACT OF POLL-BOOKS OF OCTOBER 1, 1855. 

counties. townships. JVo. of Legal No of 'Ille- 
gal Votes. 





gal Votes. 
..Grasshopper 

50 






4 






29 






12 




..Burr Oak 


41 
31 






62 




Washington.... 
Wolf River.... 

Lecompton .... 
Willow Springs 


59 
53 
23 

42 

53 
15 












90 


Leavenworth. 


Leavenworth .. 


70 










.(See Wise Co.) 


24 






6 


Riley 




28 


Shawnee One 


Hundred and Ten 


23 
52 
14 



50 
100 



150 



147 



1G 



While these enactments of the alleged Legisla- 
tive assembly were being made, a movement was 
instituted to form a State Government and apply 
for admission into the Union as a State. The first 
step taken by the people of the Territory, in con- 
sequence of the invasion of March 30, 1855, was 
the circulation for signature of a graphic and 
truthful memorial to Congress. Your Committee 
find that every allegation in this memorial has 
been sustained by the testimony. No further step 
was taken, as it was hoped that some action by the 
General Government would protect them in their 
rights. When the alleged Legislative Assembly 
proceeded to construct the serious of enactments 
referred to, the settlers were of opinion that sub- 
mission to them would result in depriving them of 
the rights secured to them by the organic law. — 
Their political condition was freely discussed in 
the Territories during the summer of 1855. Seve- 
ral meetings were held in reference to holding a 
Convention to form a State Government and to ap- 
ply for admission into the Union as a State, iliblic 
opinion gradually settled in favor of such an ap- 
plication to the Congress to meet in December, 
1855. The first general meeting was held in Law- 
rence on the 15th of August, 1855. 

The following preamble and resolutions were 
then passed : 

" Whereas, The people of Kansas have been, 
since its settlement, and now are, without any law- 
making power; therefore be it 

Eeso ved, That we, the people of Kansas Terri- 
tory, in mass meeting assembled, irrespective of 
party distinctions, influenced by common necessity, 
and greatly desirous of promoting the common 
good, do hereby call upon and request all bona fide 
citizens of Kansas Territory, ot whatever political 
views or predilections, to consult together in their 
respective Election Districts, and in mass conven- 
tion or otherwise, e^ct three delegates for each rep- 
resentative to which said Election District is en- 
titled in the House of Representatives of the Leg- 
islative Assembly, by proclamation of Governor 
Reeder, of date 19th of March, 1855; said delegates 
to assemble m Convention at the town of Topeka 
on the 19th day of September, 1855, then and there 
to consider and determine upon all subjects of pub- 
lic interest, and particularly upon that having ref- 
erence to the speedy formation of a State Constitu- 
tion, with an intention of an immediate application 
to be admitted as a State into the Union of the 
United States of America." 

Other meetings were held in various parts of the 
Territory, which endorsed the action of the Law- 
rence meeting, and delegates were selected in com- 
pliance with its recommendations. 

They met at Topeka, on the 19th day of Sep- 
tember, 1855. By their resolutions they provided 
for the appointment of an Executive Committee, 
to consist of seven persons, who required to '"keep 
a record of their proceedings, and shall have a 
general superintendence of the affairs of the Terri- 
tory, so far as regards the organization of the State 
Government." They were required to take steps 
for an electio i to be held on the second Tuesday of 
the October following, under regulations imposed 
by that Committee, ''for members of a Convention 
to form a Constitution, adopt a Bill of Riehts for 
the people of Kansas, and take all needful meas- 
ures for organizing a State Government, prepara- 
tory to the admission of Kansas into the Union as 
a State." The rules prescribed were such as 
usually govern elections in most States of the 
Union, and in most respects were similar to those 
contained in the proclamation of Gov. Reeder for 
the election of March 30, 1855. 

The Executive Committee, appointed by that 
Convention, accepted their appointment, and enter- 
ed upon the discharge of their duties by issuing a 



proclamation addressed to the legal of Kansas, re- 
questing them to meet at their several Precincts, 
at the time and places named in the proclamation, 
then and there to cast their ballots for members of 
a Constitutional Convention, to meet at Topeka on 
the Fourth Tuesday of October then next. 

The proclamation designated the places of elec- 
tions, appointed Judges, recited the qualifications 
of voters, and the apportionment of members of 
the Convention. 

After this proclamation was issued, public 
meetings were held in every District in the Terri- 
tory, and in nearly every Precinct. The State 
movement was a general topic of discussion 
throughout the Territory, and there was but little 
opposition exhibited to it. Elections Wvre held at 
the time and places designated, and the returns 
were sent to the Executive Committee. 

The result of the election was proclaimed by the 
Executive Committee, and the members elect were 
required to meet on the 23d day of October, 1855, 
at Topeka. In pursuance of this proclamation 
and direction, the Constitutional Convention met 
at the time and place appointed, and formed a State 
Constitution. A memorial to Congress was also 
prepared, praying for the admission of Kansas in- 
to the Union under that Constitution. The Con- 
vention also provided that the question of the adop- 
tion of the Constitution and other questions be sub- 
mitted to the people, and required the Executive 
Committee to take the necessary steps for that 
purpose. 

Accordingly, an election was held for that pur- 
pose on the 15th day of December, 1855, in com- 
pliance with the proclamation issued by the Exec- 
utive Committee. The returns of this election 
were made by the Executive Committee, and an 
abstract of them is contained i n the following ta- 
ble. 

[We have room to give only, from the table, the 
whole number of votes cast in thirty-nine towns, 
as follows:] 



General 
Constitu- Banking 
tion Law 

Yes No Yes 
Total 1831 46 1120 



Exclusion of No. 

Negroes and votes 

Juulattoes cast 
JVo Yes No 

546 12S7 453 177S 



N. B. — Poll-book at Leavenworth was de'troyed. 

The Executive Committee t ;en issued a procla- 
mation reciting the results of the election of the 
15th ot December and at the same time provided 
for an election to be held on the 15th day of Jan- 
uary, 1856, for State Officers and members of the 
General Assembly of the State of Kansas. An elec- 
tion was accordingly held in the several election 
precints, the returns of which were sent to the 
Executive Committee. 

The result of this election was announced by a 
proclamation by the Executive Committee. 

In accordance with the Constitution thus adop- 
ted, the members of the State Legislature and 
most of the State officers met on the day and at the 
place designated by the State Constitution, and 
took the oath therein prescribed. 

After electing United S ates Senators, passing 
some preliminary laws, and appointing a Codify- 
ing Committee and preparing a memorial to Con- 
gress, the General Assembly adjourned to meet on 
the 4th day of July, 1856. 

The laws passed were all conditional upon the 
admission of Kansas as a State ; nto the Union. 
These proceedings were regular, and in the opinion 
of yonr Committee, the Constitution thus adopted 
fairly expresses the will of a majority of the set- 
tlers. They now await the action of Congress 
upon their memorial. 

These elections, whether they were conducted 
in pursuance of law or not, were not illegal. 

Whether the result of them is sanctioned by the 
act of Congress, or they are regarded as the mere 



17 



expression of a popular will, and Congress should 
refuse to grant the prayer of the Memorial, that 
cannot affect their legality. The right of the peo- 
ple to assemble aucl express their political opinion 
in aDy form, whether by means of an election or 
a convention, is secured to them by the Consti- 
tution of the United States. Even if the elec- 
tions are to be regarded as the act of a party, whe- 
ther political or otherwise, they were proper, in 
accordance with examples, both in States and Ter- 
ritories. 

The elections, however, were preceded and fol- 
lowed by acts of violence on the part of those who 
opposed them, and those persons who approved 
and sustained the invasion from Missouri were 
peculiarly hostile to these peaceful movements pre- 
liminary to the organization of a State Government. 
Instances of this violence will be referred to here- 
after. 

To provide for the election of Delegates to Con- 
gress, and at the same time to do it in such a man- 
ner as to obtain the judgment of the House of Rep- 
resentatives upon the validity of the alleged Leg- 
islative Assembly sitting at Shawnee Mission, a 
Convention was held at Big Springs on the 5th and 
6th days of September, 1855. This was a party 
Convention, and a party calling itself the Free 
State party was then organized. It was in no way 
connected with the State movement, except that the 
election of Delegate to Congress was fixed by it on 
the same clay as the election of members of a 
Constitutional Convention, instead of the day pre- 
scribed by the alleged Legislative Assembly. An- 
drew H. Reeder was put in nomination as Territo- 
rial Delegate to Congress, and an election was 
provived for under the regulations prescribed for 
the election of March 30, 1855, excepting as to the 
appointment of officers, and the perf ons to whom 
the returns of the elections should be made. The 
election was held in accordance with these regula- 
tions. 

( The Eeport here gives an abstract of the elec- 
tion of A. H. Reeder. He received 2,816 votes. ) 

The resolutions passed by this Convention in- 
dicate the state of feeling which existed in the Ter- 
ritory in consequence of the invasion from Mis- 
souri, and the enactments of the alleged Legisla- 
tive Assembly. The language of some of the re- 
solutions is violent, and can only be justified either 
in consequence of the attempt to enforce the gross- 
est acts of tyranny, or for the purpose of guarding 
against a similar invasion in future. 

In the fall of 1855, there sprang out of the ex- 
isting discords and excitement in the Territory, 
two secret Free State Societies. They were defen- 
sive in their character, and were designed to form 
a protection to their members against unlawful 
acts of violence and assault. One of the societies 
was purely of a local character, and was confined 
to the town of Lawrence. Yery shortly after its 
organization it produced its desired effect, and 
than went out of use and ceased to exist. Both so- 
cieties were cumbersome, and of no utility except 
to give confidence to the Free State men, and en- 
able them to know and aid each other in contem- 
plated danger. So far as the evidence shows, they 
led to no act of violence in resistance to either real 
or alleged laws. 

On the 21st day of November, 1855, F. M. Cole- 
man, a Pro-Slavery man, and Charles W. Dow, a 
free State man, had a dispute about the division 
line between their respective claims. Several hours 
afterward, as Dow was passing from a blacksmith's 
shop toward his claim, and by the cabin of Cole- 
man, the latter shot Dow with a double-barrreled 
gun loaded with slugs. Dow was unarmed. He 
fell across the road and died immediately. This 
was about 1 o'clock P. M. His dead body was al- 
lowed to lie where it fell until after sundown, when 



it was conveyed by Jacob Branson to his house, at 
which Dow boarded. The testimony in regard to 
this homicide is voluminous, and shows clearly 
that it was a deliberate murder by Coleman, and 
that Harrison B jlkley and a Mr. Hargous were ac- 
cessories to it. The excitement caused by it was 
very great among all classes of the settlers. On 
the 26th a large meeting of the citizens was held at 
the place where the murder was committed, and 
resolutions passed that Coleman should be brought 
to justice. In the meantime Coleman had gone to 
Missouri, and then to Governor Shannon at 
Siawnee Mission, in Johnson county. — 
He was there taken into custody by S. L. 
Jones, then acting as Sheriff. No warrant was 
issued or examination had. On the day of the 
meeting at Hickory Point, Harrison Brady procured 
a peace warrant against Jacob Branson, which was 
placed in the hands of Jones. That same even- 
ing, after Branson had gone to be', Jones came to 
his cabin with a party of about 25 persons, among 
whom were Hargous and Buckley — burst open the 
door and saw Branson in bed. He then drew his 
pistol, cocked it, and presented it to Branson's 
breast, and said, " You are my prisoner, and if you 
move I will blow you through." The others 
cocked their guns and gathered round him and 
took him prisoner. They all mounted and went to 
Buckley's house. After a time they went on a cir- 
cuitous route towards Blanton's Bridge, stopping 
to " drink ' on the way. As they approached it 
there were 13 in the party, several having stopped. 
Jones rode up to the prisoner and, among other 
things, told him that he had " heard there were 
100 men at your house to-day," and " that he re- 
gretted they were not there, and that they were 
cheated out of their sport." In the mean time, the 
alarm had been given in the neighborhood of Bran- 
son's arrest, and several of the settlers, among 
whom were some who had attended the meeting at 
Hickory Point that day, gathered together. They 
were greatly excited; the alleged injustice of such 
an arrest of a quiet settler under a peace warrant 
by "Sheriff Jones," aided by two men believed to 
be accessory to a murder, and who were allowed 
to I e at large, exasperated them, and they proceed- 
ed as rapidly as possible by a nearer route than 
that taken by Jones, and stopped near the house of 
J. S. Abbott, one of them. They were on foot as 
Jones' party approached on a canter. The rescu- 
ers suddenly formed across the road in front of 
Jones and his party. Jones halted and asked, 
"What's up ?" The reply was, " That's what we 
want to know ! What's up 1" Branson said, 
"They have got me a prisoner." Some one in the 
rescuing party told him to come over to their side. 
He did so, and dismounted, and the mule he rode 
was driven over to Jones' party; Jones then left. 
Of the persons engaged in this rescue three were 
from Lawrence, and had atttended the meeting. 
Your Committee have deemed it proper to detail the 
particulars of this rescue, as it was made the 
ground work of what is known as the Wakerusa 
War. On the same night of the rescue the cabins 
of Coleman and Buckley were burned, but by 
whom it is left in doubt by the testimony. 

On the morning of the rescue of Branson, Jones 
was at the village of'Franklin near Lawrence. 
The rescue was spoken of in the presence of Jones, 
and more conversation passed between two others 
in his presence, as to whether it was most proper 
to send for assistance to Col. Boone,in Missouri, or 
to Gov. Shannon. Jones wrote a dispatch and 
handed it to a messenger. As soon as he started, 
Jones said : " That man is taking my dispatch to 
Missouri, and by God I will have my revenge be- 
fore I see Missouri." A person present, who wag 
examined as a witness, complained publicly that 
the dispatch was not sent to the Governor ; and 



18 



within half an hour one was sent to the Governor 
by Jones, through Hargous. Within a few days, 
large numbers of men from the State ot Missouri 
gathered and encamped on the Wakerusa. They 
brought with them all the equipments of war. To 
obtain them, a party of men under the direction 01 
Judge T. V. Thompson, broke into the United States 
Arsenal and Armory at Liberty, Missouri, and af- 
ter a forcible detention of Captain Leonard, (then 
in charge,) they took the cannon, muskets, rifles, 
powder, harness, and indeed all the materials and 
munitions of war they desired, some of which 
have never been returned or accounted for. 

The chief hostility of this military foray was 
against the town of Lawrence, and this was es- 
pecially the case with the officers of the law. 

Your committee can sea in the testimony no rea- 
son, excuse or palliation of this feeling. Up to 
this time no warrant or proclamation of any kind 
had been in ihehands of any officer against any cit- 
izen of Lawrence. No arrest had been attempted, 
and no writ resisted in that town. The rescue of 
Branson sprang out of a murder committed thir- 
teen miles from Lawrence, in a detached settlement, 
and neither the town nor its citizens extended any 
protection to Branson's rescuers. On the contrary, 
two or three days after the rescue, S. N. "Wood, 
who claimed publicly to be one of the rescuing 
party, wished to be arrested for the purpose of test- 
ing the Territorial laws, and walked up to Sheriff 
Jones and shook hands with him, and exchanged 
other courtesies. He could have been arrested 
without any difficulty, and it was his design when 
he went to Mr. Jones to be arrested, but no at- 
tempt was made to do so. 

It is obvious that the only cause of this hos- 
tility is the known desire of the citizens of Law- 
rence to make Kansas a Free State, and their re- 
pugnance to laws imposed upon them by non-res- 
dents. 

Tour Committee do not propose to detail the 
incidents connected with this foray. Fortuuately 
for the peace of the country, a direct conflicr be- 
tween the opposing forces was avoided by an ami- 
cable arrangement. The losses sustained by the 
settle s iu property taken and time and money ex- 
pended in their own defence, added much to the 
trials incident to a new settlement. Many persons 
were unlawfully taken and detained — in some ca- 
ses, under circumstances of gross cruelty. This 
was especially so iu the arrest and treatment of 
Dr. G. A. Cutter and G. F. Warren. They were 
taken, without cause or warrant, 60 miles from 
Lawrence, and when Dr. Cutter was quite sick.— 
They were compelled to go to the camp at Law- 
rence, were put in the custody of " Sheriff Jones," 
who had no process to arrest them — they were ta- 
ken into a small room kept as a liquor shop, which 
was open and very cold. That night Jones came 
in with others, and went " to playing poker at 25 
cents ante." The prisoners were obliged to sit up 
all night, as there was no room to lie down -when 
the men were plaving. Jones insulted them fre- 
quently, and told one of them he must either "tell 
or swing." The guard then objected to this treat- 
ment of prisoners, and Jones desisted. G. F. War- 
ren thus describes their subsequent conduct : 

They then carried us down to their camp ; Kel- 
ley of the Squatter Sovereign, who lives in Atch- 
ison, came round and said he thirsted for blood, 
and said he should uke to hang us on the first tree. 
Cutler was very weak, and that excited him so 
that he became delirious. They sent for three 
doctors, who came. Dr. Stringfellow was one of 
them. They remained there with Cutler until af- 
ter midnight, and then took him up to the office, as 
it was very cold in camp. 

During the foray, either George W. Clark, or 
Mr. Burns, murdered Thomas Barber, while the 



latter was on the highway on his road from Law- 
rence to his claim. Both fired at him, and it is 
impossible from the proof to tell whose shot was 
fatal. The details of this homicide ure stated by 
eye-witnesses. 

Among the many acts of lawless violence which 
itjhas been the duty of your Committee to investi- 
gate, this invasion of Lawrence is the most de- 
fenceless. A comparison of the facts proven, with 
the official statements of the officers of the Gov- 
ernment, will show how groundless were the pie- 
texts which gave rise to it. A community in 
which no crime had been committed by any of its 
members, against none of whom had a warrant 
been issued or a complaint made, who had re- 
sisted no process in the hands of a real or pre- 
tended officer, was threatened with destruction in 
the name of "law and order" and that, too, by 
men who marched from a neighboring State with 
arms obtained by force, and who, in every stage of 
their progress, violated many laws, among others 
the Constitution of the United States. 

The chief guilt of it must rest on Samuel J. 
Jones. His character is illustrated by his language 
at Lecompton, where peace was made: "The 
"said Major Clark and Burns both claimed the 
"credit of killing that d — d Abolitionist, and he 
! "didn't know which ought to have it. If Shan- 
"non hadn't been a d — d old fool, that peace would 
"never have been declared. He would lave 
"wiped Lawrence out. He had men and means 
"enough to do it." 

Shortly after the retreat of the forces from be- 
fore Lawrence, the election upon the adoption of 
the State Constitution was held at Leavenworth 
City, on the 15th of December, 1855. While it was 
proceeding quietly, about noon Charles Dunn, with 
a party of others, smashed in the window ot the 
building in which the election was being held, and 
then jumped into the room where the judges of 
election were sitting, and drove them off. One of 
the clerks of election snatched up the ballot-box 
and followed the judges, throwing the box behind 
the counter of an adjoining room through which he 
passed on his way out. As he got to the street 
door, Dunn caught him by the throat and pushed 
him up against the outside of the building, and 
demanded the ballot-box. 

Then Dunn and another person struck him in 
the face, and he fell into the mud; the crowd rushed 
on him, and kicked him on the head and in the 
sides. In this manner the election was broken up, 
Dunn and his party obtaining the ballot-box and 
carrying it off. 

To avoid a similar outrage at the election for 
State officers, &c, to be held on the 15th of Jan- 
uary, 1856, the election for Leavenworth District 
was appointed to be held at Easton, and the time 
postponed until the 17th of January, 1856. On the 
way to the election, persons were stopped by a 
party of men at a grocery, and their guns taken 
from them. During the afternoon, parties came 
up to he place of election, and threatened to 
destroy the ballot box, and were guilty of other 
insolent and abusive conduct. After the polls 
were closed, many of the settlers, being apprehen- 
sive of an attack, were armed in the house where 
the election had been held the next morning. That 
night, S: Sparks, his son and nephew, started for 
home, his route running by the store of a Mr. 
Dawson, where a large party of armed men had 
collected. As he approached, these men demand- 
ed that he should surrender, and gathered about 
him to enforce the demand. Information was 
carried by a man in the company of Mr. Sparks 
to (he house where the election had been held. E,. 
P. Brown and a company of men immediately 
went down to relieve Mr. Sparks, and did relieve 
him when he was in imminent danger. Mr. Sparks 



19 



then started back with Mr. Brown and his party, 
and while on their way were fired npon by the 
other party. They returned the fire, an-1 an irre- 
gular fight then ensued, in which a, man by the 
name of Cook, of the Pro-Slavery party, received 
a mortal wound, and two of the Free State were 
slightly wounded. 

Mr. Brown, with seven others who had accom- 
panied him from Leavenworth, started on their re- 
turn home. When they had proceeded part of the 
way, they were stopped and taken prisoners by a 
party of men called the Kickapoo Bangers, un- 
der the command of Capt. John W. Martin. They 
were disarmed and taken back to Easton, and put in 
Dawson's store. Brown was separated from the rest 
of his party and taken into the office of E. S. Trotter. 
By this time several of Martin's party and some of 
th'e citizens of the place had become intoxicated and 
expressed a determination to kill Brown. Captain 
Martin was desirous to and did all in his power to 
save him. Several hours were spent in determining 
what should be done with Brown and his party. In 
the meantime, without the knowledge of his party, 
Capt. Martin liberated all of Brown's party but him- 
self, and aided themin their escape. The crowd re- 
peatedly tried to get in the room where Brown was, 
and at one time succeeded, but were put out by Mar- 
tin and others. Martin, finding that further effort on 
his part to save Brown was useless, left and went 
home. The crowd then got possession of Brown 
and finally butchered him m cold blood. The 
wound of which he died was inflicted with a 
hatchet by a man of the name of Gibson. After 
he had been mortally wounded, Brown was sent 
home with Charles Dunn, and died that night. — 
No attempt was made to arrest or punish the mur- 
derers of Brown. Many of them were well known 
citizens, and some ot them were officers of the law. 
On the next Grand Jury which sat in Leavenworth 
county, the Sheriff summoned several of the per- 
sons implicated in this murder. One of them was 
M. P. Rively, at that time Treasurer of the Coun- 
ty. He has been examined as a witness before us. 
The reason he gives why no indictments were 
found is, "tbey killed one of the Pro-Slavery men 
and the Pro-Slavery men killed one of the others, 
and I thought it was about mutual." The same 
Grand Jury, however, found bills of indictment 
against those wh > acted as Judges of the Free 
State election . Bively says : — "I know our utmost 
endeavors were made to find out who acted as 
Judges and Clerks on the 17th of January last,and 
at all the bogus elections held by the Abolitionists 
here. We were very anxious to find them out, as 
we thought them acting illegally." 

Your Committee, in their examinations, have 
found that in no case of crime or homicide, men- 
tioned in the report or in the testimony, has any 
indictment been found against the guilty party, 
except in the homicide of Clark by McCrea, Mc- 
Crea being a Free-State man. 

Yqur Committee did not deem it within their 
power or duty to take testimony as to the events 
which have transpired since the date of their ap- 
pointment; but as some of the events tended seri- 
ously to embarass, hinder, and delay their investi- 
gations, they deem it proper here to refer to them. 
On their arrival in the Territory the people were 
arrayed in two hostile parties. The hostility of 
them was continually increased during their stay 
in the Territory by the arrival of armed bodies of 
men, who, from their equipments, came not to fol- 
low the peaceful pursuits of life but armed and 
organized into companies, apparently for war — by 
the unlawful detention of persons and property 
while passing through the State of Missouri, and 
by frequent forceable seizures of persons and pro- 
perty in the Territory without legal warrant. — 
Your Committee regret that they were compelled 



to witness instances of each of these classes of 
outrages. While holding their session at West- 
port, Mo., at the request of the sitting Delegate 
they saw severalbodiesof armed men, confessedly 
citizens of Missouri, march into the Territory on 
forays against its citizensJrat under the pretence of 
enforcing the enactments before referred to. The 
wagons of emigrants were stopped in the highways, 
and searched without claim of legal powers, and 
in some instances all their property taken from 
them. In Leavenworth City leading citizens were 
arrested at noon-day in our presence, by an armed 
force, without any claim of authority, except that 
derived from a self-constituted Committee of Vig- 
ilance, many of whom were Legislative and Ex- 
ecutive officers. Some were released on promising 
to leave the Territory, and oihers being detained for 
a time were formally notified to leave, under the 
severest penalties. The only offence charged 
against them was their political opinions, and no 
one was thus arrested for alleged crime of any 
grade. There was no resistance to the^e lawless 
acts by the settlers, because, in their opinion, the 
parsons engaged in them would be sustained and 
reinforced by the citizens of the populous border 
counties of Missouri, from whence they were only 
separated by the river. In one case witnessed 
by your Committee, an application fcr the writ of 
habeas corpus was prevented by the urgent solicit- 
ation of pro-slavery men, who insisted that it 
would endanger the fife of the prisoner to be dis- 
charged under legal process. 

While we remained in the Territory, repeated 
acts of outrage were committed upon the quiet 
unoffending citizens, of which we received au- 
thentic intelligence. Men were attacked on the 
highway, robbed, and subsequently imprisoned. 
Men were seized and searched, and their weapons 
of defence taken from them without compensation. 
Horses were frequently taken and appropriated. 
Oxen were taken from the yoke while plowing, and 
butchered in the presence of their owners. One 
young man was seized in the streets of the town 
of Atchison, and under circumstances of gros3 
barbarity was aired and cottoned, and in that con- 
dition was sent to his family. All the provisions 
of the Constitution of the United States, securing 
persons and property, are utterly disregarded. 
The officers of the law, instead of protecting the 
people, were in some instances engaged in these 
outrages, and in no instance did we learn that any 
man was arrested, indicted or punished for any 
of these crimes. While such oflences were com- 
mitted with impunity, the laws were used as a 
means of indicting men for holding elections pre- 
liminary to framing a Constitution and applying 
for admission into the Union as the State of Kan- 
sas. Charges of high treason were made against 
prominent citizens, upon grounds which seem to 
your Committee absurd and ridiculous, and under 
the e charges they are now held in custody and 
are refused the privilege of bail. In several cases 
men were arrested in the State of Missouri while 
passing on their lawful business through that 
State, and detained until indictments could be 
found in the Territory. 

These proceedings were followed by an offence of 
still greater magnitude. Under color of legal pro- 
cess, a company of ahout seven hundred armed 
men, the great body of whom your Committee are 
satisfied were not citizens of the Territory, march- 
ed into the town of Lawrence under Marshal Don- 
aldson and S. J. Jones, officers claiming to act un- 
der the law, and bombarded and then burned to the 
ground a valuable hotel and one private house, de- 
stroyed two printing presses and material, and 
then, being released by the officers, whose posse 
they claimed to be, proceeded to sack, pillage and 
rob houses, stores, trunks, &c., even to the cloth- 



20 






ing of woman and children. Some of the letters [ 
thus unlawfully taken were private ones, written j 
by the contesting delegate, and they were offered in j 
evidence. Your committee did not deem that the 
person holding them had any right thus to use 
them, and refused to be marie the instruments to i 
report priva'e letters thus obtained. 

This force was not resisted, because it was col- j 
lected and marshaled under the forms of law. — ! 
But this act of barbarity, unexampled in the histo- 
ry of our Government, was followed by its natural 
consequences. All the restraints which American 
citizens are accustomed to pay even to the appear- 
ance of law, were thrown off: one act ot violence 
led to another; homicides became frequent. A 
party under II. C. Pate, composed chiefly of citi- 
zens of Missouri, were taken prisoners by a party , 
of settlers; and while your Committee were at 
Westport, a company, chiefly of Missourians, ac- 
companied by the acting Delegate, went to relieve 
Pate and his party,and a collision was prevented by 
the United States troops. Civil war has seemed 
impending in the Territory. Nothing can prevent 
so great a calamity but the presence of a lar»e 
force ot United States troops, under a commander 
who will with prudence and discretion quiet the 
excited passions of both parties, and expel with 
force the armed bands of lawless - nen, coming from 
Missouri and elsewhere,who with criminal per- 
tinacitv infest the Territory. 

In some cases, and as to one entire election dis- 
trict, the condition of the country prevented the at- 
tendance of witnesses, who were either ar- 
rested or detained while obeying our process or de- 
terred from so doing. The Sergeant-at-Arms who 
served the processes upon them was himself ar- 
rested and detained for a short time by an armed 
force, claiming to be part of the posse of the Mar- 
shal but was allowed to proceed upon an examin- 
ation of his papers, and was furnished with a pass 
signed by ' r WarrenD. Wilkes, of South Carolina." 
John Upton, another offi ier of the Committee, was 
subsequently stopped by a lawless force on the 
borders of the Territory, and after being detained 
and treated with great indignity, was released. 
He, also, was furnished with a pass signed by two 
citizens of Missouri, and addressed to "Pro-Slave- 
ry men." By reason of these disturbances we 
were delayed in Westport, so that while in session 
there our time was but partially occupied. 

But the obstruction which created the most se- 
rious embarrassment to your Committee was the 
attempted arrest of Governor Reeder, the contest- 
ing Delegate, upon a writ of attachment issued 
against him by Judge Lecompte to compel his at- 
tendance as a witness before the Grand Jury of 
Douglas county. William Fane, recently from 
the State of Georgia, and claiming to be the Depu- 
ty Marshal came into the room of the Committee 
while Gov. Beeder was examining a witness before 
us, and producing the writ required Gov. Reeder 
te attend him. Subsequent events have only 
strengthened the conviction of your Committee 
that this was a wanton and unlawful interference 
by the Judge who issued the writ, tending great- 
ly to obstruct a full and fair investigation. — 
Gov. Reeder and Gen Whitfield alone were ful- 
ly possessed of that local intelligence which 
would enable us to elicit the whole truth, and 
it was obvious to every one that any event 
which would separate either of them from the 
Committee would necessarily hinder, delay, and 
embarrass it. Gov. Reeder claimed that under the 
circumstances in v/hich he was placed he was 
privileged from arrest except for treason, felony, 
or breach of the peace. As this was a question of 
privilege, proper for the Court, or for the privi- 
leged person alone to determine on his peril, we 
declined to give bim any protection or take any 



action in the matter. He refused to obey the writ, 
believing it to be a mere pretence to get the custo- 
dy of his person, and fearing, as he alleged, that 
he would be assassinated by lawless bands of men 
then gathering in and near Lecompton. He then 
left the Territory. 

Subsequently H. Miles Moore, an attorney in 
Leavenworth city, but for several years a citizen of 
Weston, Mo., kindly finished the Committee in- 
formation as to the residence of persons voting at 
the elections, and in some cases examined wit- 
nesses before it. He was arrested on the streets 
of that town by an armed band of about thirty 
men, headed by W. D.Wilkes, without any color 
of authority, confined, with other citizens, under a 
military guard for 24 hours, and then notified to 
leave the Territory. His testimony was regarded 
as important, and upon his sworn statement that 
it would endanger his person to give it openly the 
majority of your Committee deemed it proper to 
examine him ex parte, and did so. 

By reason of these occurrences, the contestant, 
and the party with and for whom he acted, were 
unrepresented before us during a greater portion 
of the time, and your Committee were required to 
ascertain the truth in the best manner they could. 

Your Committee report the following facts and 
conclusions as established by the testimony: 

First — That each election in the Territory held 
under the organic or alleged Territorial law has 
been carried by organized invasions trom the State 
of Missouri, by which the people of the Territory 
have been prevented from exercising the righta 
secured to them by the organic law. 

Second — That the alleged Territorial Legislature 
was an illegally constituted body, andhad no power 
to pass valid laws, and their enactments are, there- 
fore^ null and void. 

Third — That these alleged laws have not, as a 
geueral thing, been used to protect persons and 
property and to punish wrong, but, for unlawful 
purposes. 

Fourth. — That the election under which the sit- 
ting Delegate, John W. Whitfield, holds his seat, 
was not held in pursuance of any valid law, and 
that it should be regarded only as the expression 
of the choice of those resident citizens who voted 
for him. 

Fifth. — That the election under which the con- 
testing Delegate, Andrew H. Reeder, claims his 
seat, was not held in pursuance of law, and that it 
should be regarded only as the expression of the 
choice of the resident citizens who voted for him. 

Sixth — That Andrew H. Reeder received a great- 
er number of votes of resident citizens than John 
W. Whitfield, for Delegate. 

Seventh. — That in the present condition of the 
Territory a fair election cannot be held without a 
new census, a stringent and ;vell guarded election 
law, the selection of impartial Judges, and the 
presence of United States troops at every place of 
election. 

Eighth — That the various elections held by the 
people of the Territory preliminary to the forma- 
tion of the State Government, have been as regu- 
lar as the disturbed condition of the Territory 
would allow; and that the Constitution passed by 
the Convention, held in pursuance of siid elections 
embodies the will of a majority of the people. 

As it is not the province of your Committee to 
suggest remedies for the existing troubles in the 
Territory of Kansas, they content themselves with 
the foregoing statement of facts. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

WM. A. HOWARD, 
JOHN SHERMAN. 

Cincinnati Gazette Company Print, Fourth & Vine Sts. 



I P.. I' YV; 



